


I Can Feel You

by Predaliena



Category: SCP - Containment Breach, SCP Foundation
Genre: Blindness, Gen, Monsters, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2020-07-12 09:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 28,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19943581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Predaliena/pseuds/Predaliena
Summary: Riley Olson is a member of Class-D personnel. But she is different from any of the test subjects: Riley was born blind. It doesn't stop the scientists though, and thus she is locked in the endless stairwell with SCP-087-1 that was named Virgil by the doctors. What fate awaits Riley when she meets the monster of the endless stairwell?





	1. Chapter 1

Darkness and dampness.

The stairwell that seemingly never ends.

No one knows whether there is a bottom at the end of it or not. No one has ever dared to go into the depths of the unknown that was the stairwell dubbed as an object SCP-087. But it wasn’t totally uninhabited. It served as a home for an unknown entity with a code number SCP-087-1 that had never had a name, but one day the scientists of the SCP Foundation decided to give him some kind of a name to make things easier. It look them a while to come up with a final version until they finally called him Virgil.

The creature of the stairwell had no idea how long he had lived in this place. Time was of no importance to him, it just didn’t exist in this location. He never understood why people were so obsessed with the feeling of time. It only made things harder, or so he thought. Virgil slid from floor to floor, not knowing what to occupy himself with. He hated to admit it but the monster of the dark stairwell felt bored. This was probably the only thing he could understand about people so far. Boredom was his eternal companion. Not like he complained about it too much, but sometimes it would be only nice to get himself busy with something. Virgil was completely alone in this place, not knowing whether there are any other creatures out there beside humans. All he could remember during his existence is darkness and endless stairs that lead into the depths of the unknown. Actually, he didn’t even know why he was here.

He just… was.

Virgil wondered whether the creatures called humans understood why they exist in this world. What is their purpose? Do they know it? He wished to find out more but there was never an opportunity to do it. Speaking of which… The humans. There had been a few attempts to let one human being into the stairwell, three times so far. Two of them were male and one female. Virgil could hear the voices coming from the highest floor where the heavy steel door was, and each test subject was told to descend slowly and carefully. It became clear to Virgil that those people were test subject that were let into the stairwell to test his behavior with them. Well, he was only glad to get the possibility to know a human being better. But all his hopes soon broke like thin, fragile glass. As soon as they saw his ghostly pale face with empty, lifeless eyes, they stopped right where they were, unable to move forward. Virgil knew what they felt at that moment, he felt it.

They were afraid. He could feel their fear.

No wonder. As soon as the metal door slammed shut after them, they were on their own, surrounded by sinister darkness. Only a small flashlight provided faint illumination of a meter or two in front of them. Neither of them knew where they were going and what awaited them. In the moment they stepped into the dark stairwell, they were isolated from the human world.

They stepped into HIS world.

Virgil listened carefully what they were talking about through the walkie-talkie with the doctors. Each test subject reported his or her every step, and if the coast was clear, the doctors told them to proceed. Also, each of them claimed to hear some weird sound coming from somewhere down; according to the test subjects, they heard voice of a female or a child crying for help. But the more they descended, the farther the source of the sound was from them. It’s like the one who was crying made one step down together with the test subject. And if they encountered Virgil, all said that he wasn’t the source of the cries.

And they were right at this point.

Virgil has never made such sounds. But he knew well that there was no one else in the stairwell but him. This place itself almost lives its own life, if you could call it like that. It created illusions of someone crying and calling for help, and it served as a good bait to lure the unsuspecting victims here. Sometimes it seemed to Virgil that the entire stairwell worked together with him, helped to lead the test subjects towards him. But in fact, he didn’t need help, considering how fast he was able to move.

And that’s what he did when he encountered a guest. When test subjects spotted him in the dark, they froze in their spot like they have seen a ghost. Well, maybe that’s what he looked like after all. A ghost, an ominous specter that waited for its victims in this overwhelming darkness. Virgil heard the doctors trying to persuade the test subject to move forward, but they refused to move a muscle. Well, if the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must come to the mountain. If Virgil had known this phrase, he definitely would have used it for himself in such situations. The he will come to people if they don’t want to come closer. In a split second he approached the human for a meter, and the reaction was always the same: the test subject turned around and ran upstairs with a piercing scream that echoed throughout the stairwell. Virgil never knew what happened to them afterwards when they reached the top and returned to the doctors. All he knew was how strong their fear and shock was, his hearing was sharp enough to hear their frantic heartbeat. It was fun to give them a small chase. At least it provided some sort of an entertainment. Virgil was curious himself about what would happen if he meets a human being face to face and touches it. It had never happened, and he wished to know what it would result in.

And then there was silence again. Silence and emptiness. Just as he was used to. Virgil now was a bit confused. Are all humans that cowardly? He hasn’t done anything to those test subjects, at least not yet. The scientists upstairs sure were studying him, but doesn’t he have the rights to study humans as well? But they just ran from him. Does his appearance really seem that scary to them? It pretty much looked that way. They just ran away right when they saw him without giving him a chance to get closer. Virgil realized that each test subject was somehow sure that he would kill them if they allowed him to come closer. But his first reaction was far from that when he saw a human being. Sure, if he gets annoyed, he will kill without hesitation. But the test subjects were so consumed by fear that no one had any idea in mind that the monster doesn’t always think only about murder. Whether people are aware of it or not, monsters also know what curiosity is.

And so the time passed - hour after hour, day after day. Virgil’s life in the dark stairwell had returned to its usual course. All that was left to do was sliding silently from floor to floor, descending so deep that no one would dare to descend; and then rising back to the upper floors to check whether something new may be happening upstairs. But nothing happened, nothing changed. If Virgil could, he would make a deep and sad sigh.

He was bored once again. And in that very moment he realized a new feeling rising inside him beside the boredom.

He was lonely.

Thus he would most likely never find out what loneliness truly means and how to deal with it when suddenly a loud banging noise broke the silence. It was the metal door again, and it has just slammed shut. Virgil tensed and listened carefully. His hearing has never betrayed him. He could clearly hear the light sound of footsteps.

If the monster could, he would have grinned at this moment. All that was happening now had only one meaning.

The new plaything is finally here.


	2. Chapter 2

_*some time before*_

Riley Olson sat on a bed in her cell and let out another heavy sigh. If she had an ability to see, she would have found herself now in a white cell with no windows at all; just a bed, a table, a toilet, and a firmly locked heavy metal door. All she could see was black darkness since the first moment of her arrival in this world. Riley never knew who her parents were. She spent most of her life in an orphanage where she was told that her mother died during the labor, and her father left her mother while she was still pregnant. Sometimes Riley felt pricks of guilt when thinking about her mother dying when she delivered her into this world, but she was told many times that it has never been her fault. Children are born innocent, and they never carry any fault for what happened to their parents before their birth. That’s what Riley often heard while living in the orphanage; but she felt lonely despite all the good treatment and attitude. She would give anything to feel her mother’s embrace or at least hear her voice, but unfortunately it was not possible. Riley suffered mentally at first, but as the years went by, she learnt to deal with it. And when suspicious agents arrived to the orphanage, claiming they needed volunteers for work, Riley was somehow sure she would be the chosen one; and she had a feeling that there was something else behind this “work”. She felt that it would most likely result in her being some kind of a lab rat, but she went with the strangers nonetheless when they chose her. What did she have to lose anyway? Who would care or mourn about some forgotten blind orphan? Most likely no one would. This is how she ended up in a facility known as SCP Foundation as a D-class personnel. She was given a code number of D-69, and that’s how she was addressed by the scientists and security guards since then. Riley didn’t know it, and no one gave her all the details; but they were keeping real inhuman creatures in this facility, and many of them were hostile to people. All she heard was the names of different SCP objects with different numbers, but she couldn’t comprehend what exactly it meant; and the security guards were silent like fish. D-class personnel were used exactly as lab rats for studying the inhuman creatures, and she would understand it very soon.

Riley held to her cane firmly that was her only and faithful friend in this dark world. With its help she could orientate in darkness quite well. Moreover, it’s said that if a human being loses one sense, some other one becomes sharper. And that’s what happened to her. She was already born blind, but all her life her hearing never deceived her. Besides, as the years passed, she developed the ability to orientate around with the help of echolocation like bats did. Her cane served as good help in it. If she tapped it against the ground strong enough, she could sort of “see” things; not literally of course. But echolocation helped her create some sort of contours of the objects around her. That’s how she learnt to walk around the orphanage without the help of others, and now she was well aware of what was around her in the cell. Riley had no idea how much time has already passed, but one thing she knew for sure: there were footsteps approaching her cell, and she had no doubts that this person was coming for her.

And she ended up being right. The metal door opened up with a loud hissing sound and a male voice echoed through the cell:

“D-69?”

“That’s me,” Riley replied simply.

“Dr. Webster has got some job for you and ordered to bring you to him. Please step out of your cell.”

It was a security guard. Riley knew it instantly as those guys always spoke like they lacked any kind of emotions. She grabbed her cane and slowly walked out of her cell where the guard was waiting for her. Hearing more footsteps behind her back, she concluded that he wasn’t alone. There were at least two guards with her. And right after the door closed with the same hiss, the guard spoke again.

“Just come with me now. We’ve been authorized to shoot any disobedient test subjects, so don’t try anything stupid.”

Riley smirked at his words.

“And how many blind people have you encountered that were disobedient?” she asked with sarcasm. “I suppose people like me don’t have much choice, do they?”

The guard chuckled in reply.

“You’re right, they don’t,” he agreed. “All right, enough chit-chat. Let’s go.”

Holding Riley’s shoulders, the guardian led her through several corridors, another one following their footsteps. Riley tapped her cane against the floor while walking and her senses transferred information to her brain, telling her that each corridor they passed was empty, not a single human being in it. She could hear voices around her now and then, but it happened in the moments they crossed small bridges with people working underneath. It was nothing but just another day in the facility and workers going through their daily routine. It seemed like nothing was out of ordinary, but the feeling of dread never left Riley’s mind. She had bad suspicions about this so-called “job” that Dr. Webster prepared for her. And it was no use trying to get something out of the security guards. They were just doing their job and didn’t know too much, did they?

Maybe they did, but their stubborn silence could mean that they were forbidden from talking much to the members of D-class personnel which was most likely. The doctors didn’t want the test subjects to know too much about what awaited them, fearing that they might get rebellious. If that happened, they would have to give an order to shoot the rebels which was pretty undesirable. Getting people for the experiments wasn’t even close to easy; and in the case of their elimination there would be problems. The creatures they captured in this facility were extremely valuable for the science, and it was pretty much necessary to study them better. But to do that, living test subjects had to be provided in sufficient quantity. In any case, precautions had to be taken to keep the work going smoothly; and every scientist in the SCP facility would do his best to keep it that way.

Another hissing noise indicated that Riley had reached her destination. One of the guards led her into the room where Dr. Webster and his colleagues were waiting.

“Oh, I see you brought D-69,” he said with a grin.

“Yes, doctor,” the guard replied. “Is there anything else I could do for you?”

“No, thank you, Kyle,” Dr. Webster said. “That would be it for now. You may leave.”

The guard named Kyle nodded and turned to the exit. And as soon as the door locked itself, the scientist approached Riley and put his hand on her shoulder in the same manner Kyle did before.

“Well, good day, Ms. Olson,” he smiled. “How are you feeling today?”

Riley sighed sadly. This was the first time she heard anyone address her by her last name.

“I’m fine, doctor. I feel as usual,” she said, deciding it would be better get to business, whatever it was. “The security guard said you have some kind of work for me to do. Is that right?”

“Yes, my dear, it is. Please, come with me. I’ll give you the necessary instructions.”

Riley swallowed nervously, doing her best to hide her anxiety. Dr. Webster’s voice seemed kind, but was he sincere? She wasn’t entirely sure, but some inner voice told her that there was something else hiding behind the mask of his kindness. Dr. Webster was definitely up to something.

Riley knew that asking him questions would be futile. The scientists have always been such types that avoid answering the questions, at least directly. From such behavior she concluded that this facility must be a top secret one, but why? Not like anyone would give her any explanations. Perhaps now she would find out more.

Finally the scientist stopped with her, and Riley hit her cane against the floor rather strongly. The sound vibrations resonated through the room, sending information to her brain again; and Riley realized that he led her to a large metal door. She had to make sure though.

“Is this a metal door?” she asked.

“Yes, you’re absolutely right, my dear,” Dr. Webster said. It was the second time already when he called her like that. Riley didn’t like that. Not because she felt disgusted or something; in other situation it would sound pleasant in some way. No, the reason for her feeling uncomfortable was different. The more he spoke like this, the stronger was the feeling that he was preparing her for something that might result in her death. “I see your echolocation ability has developed very well. I must say, I’m impressed. I presume that it could be very useful for you during the task.”

“What task?” Riley asked.

“This door that is in front of us is kept locked constantly for safety purposes,” the scientist continued. “But today we are opening it in a few moments. There is a staircase behind the door. You must descend slowly and cautiously and listen very carefully. You will be given a device that will keep us connected, and your task is to listen to any sounds and report to us everything you hear. You tell us what kind of sounds you hear if there are any, how far they are from you, etc. When I say that it’s enough, you may go back up. Is that clear?”

“Sounds easy enough,” Riley said thoughtfully. Dr. Webster nodded.

“Yes, it’s no big deal,” he said, grinning. “Just hold on firmly to the railing not to stumble. Do you have any questions?”

“I guess the task is clear enough,” she replied.

“Very well then. Now just a moment, I’ll give you your device.”

Dr. Webster clipped a small microphone-like device to Riley’s ear and walked to his microphone to check if everything was in working order and she could hear him well. And after he made sure that the device worked properly, he pressed the button that activated the door mechanism. This time the heavy door slid open with a nasty metal screeching sound. Riley could guess that unlike other doors she went through today, this one seemed to be pretty old.

“Well, Ms. Olson, are you ready?” the scientist’s voice spoke through the device already.

“Yes, doctor, I am,” she replied.

“Good. Please proceed with caution.”

Riley heard the metal door slam shut behind her back. She did her best to stay calm, but her heart was beating frantically in her chest. She had no idea what awaited her in this place, but she had no other choice. Sighing heavily, she lifted her head proudly and stepped into the abyss. She never knew that Dr. Webster moved away from the microphone for a moment so she couldn’t hear him and whispered to his colleagues:

“The previous test subjects didn’t last long and failed the experiment. Let’s see how long this one is going to last. I’m sure Virgil will be happy to receive a new plaything.”


	3. Chapter 3

It wouldn’t be a lie to say that the first steps Riley made into the stairwell were the most difficult ones in her life. Not because it was hard for her to walk the stairs, no. She had done it multiple times before, and that was no problem for her now. She was stepping into the unknown, and that frightened her the most. She had no idea what to expect in this place, and neither of the scientists said anything about it. And the unknown is what every human being is afraid the most. All she knew that it was a dark and damp stairwell, and her task was to report any strange sounds she heard here. Riley still couldn’t truly comprehend the reason for it. Why did they need to record sounds in the stairwell? How was it going to develop their scientific knowledge? Is there maybe something alive inhabiting this place? There were too many questions filling her mind, but in no way she was going to get answers to them.

Or, maybe, to some she would get the answer soon.

Riley began descending the first flight of stairs when Dr. Webster’s voice broke the silence.

“So, Ms. Olson, how are things going? Do you hear anything out of ordinary?”

“No, for now it’s quiet,” she replied. “I can hear just my own steps.”

“All right then. Please continue your way.”

Riley did as she was instructed. But each word said by the doctor made her feel even more anxious. _Do you hear anything out of ordinary?_ What could be out of ordinary here? Riley’s mind told her that Dr. Webster definitely was hiding something. He knew what this stairwell was and if there was anything alive hiding here. He knew it but never told her a thing. Scientists have always been cruel. In the name of science they would stop at nothing, and even human life meant nothing to them if they wanted to achieve their goal. Dr. Webster was no exception.

Riley sighed and slowly continued her way down. She knew that Dr. Webster had no other intentions than using her as a lab rat and sent her down here to study something she couldn’t understand. If only there was a possibility to turn things back and get out of this place, but she had no other choice but to obey the orders. This facility was properly guarded, the security guards were all armed; and just like the guard named Kyle told her, they are authorized to shoot anyone who showed any signs of disobedience. So the situation was actually hopeless. Besides, what can a blind person do? Even those who could see could do nothing, then what can be said about the blind ones? They had no chances at all.

Riley shook her head sadly and made a few more steps. She had already managed to descend the first flight of stairs and approached the second one when she suddenly stopped and froze in her spot.

The silence was broken again, and this time not by Dr. Webster’s voice.

“Dr. Webster, are you there?” Riley spoke in a shaking voice.

“Yes, I’m listening. Do you hear anything?”

“Yes, doc, now I do,” she replied. “I can hear something that sounds like a… child, I think. Judging by the voice, its age could be seven or eight years old.”

“That’s interesting. Anything else? Do you hear any words or those are just screams?”

“I’d say it sounds like distress vocalizations,” Riley replied. “I can clearly hear the voice calling out for help.”

“How far is the sound from you?”

“I’m not sure, but I’d say it’s approximately two hundred meters down from my location,” Riley said. “What should I do now?”

Dr. Webster cleared his throat and said:

“Please continue moving forward slowly and carefully and tell me if you detect any changes.”

Riley just mumbled something incoherent in response and continued her descent. The high-pitched voice still continued calling for help, resonating through the stairwell; but there was something not right about it all. Riley noticed that no matter how deep she descended, she couldn’t find the source of the screams.

“This is weird…” she whispered more to herself than to the scientist that was still in contact.

“What? Did you say anything, Ms. Olson? I didn’t hear you well enough,” Dr. Webster spoke through the device.

Riley stayed silent for a moment, listening carefully. The child’s voice was still around two hundred meters away from her.

“I said that there’s something weird happening,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“I have gone deeper but still it seems that I haven’t approached to the source of the sound even for one meter,” she explained. “I’ve descended to the end of the second staircase, but the voice is still as far from me as it was before.”

“So basically you’re saying that it’s still approximately two hundred meters away from you?” the scientist asked.

“Yes, precisely,” Riley confirmed, nodding to herself.

“I see,” Dr. Webster said thoughtfully. “Now I would like you to continue going down for a few more staircases, four or five for now. You are still only at the end of the second staircase. If you move deeper, you could perhaps get closer to the source of the sound and find out more. Please proceed.”

Not having any other options, Riley began going down the third flight of stairs, counting them on her way. She slowly managed to reach the end of the sixth staircase and already approached the first step of the seventh one; and yet nothing has changed. Riley then tapped her cane against the ground a few times, making the sound resonate throughout the nearby floors. The sound vibrations went to the surrounding walls, hitting against them and returning to the source of the noise like a sound locator sent by a dolphin. The signals were sent to Riley’s brain, telling her that there was nothing on her way. The staircase in front of her was as empty as the ones before. And the cries were still as far as the first time she heard them. Riley dared to descend the seventh staircase, then another and another until she was at the thirteenth staircase, all this time ignoring Dr. Webster who tried to find out more from her. She felt like this place was calling for her, stretching its invisible arms and waiting for her to fall into its embrace.

“Ms. Olson, where are you? Are you still there?” he continued to ask. Riley then finally snapped back to reality.

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry, doc. I’m still here,” she responded in a hurry.

“Why weren’t you replying? Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said. “It’s just… you know, this place like… engulfed me and I just couldn’t resist and went down by myself. I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine, but next time, please respond when I talk to you. Where are you now?”

“I’m at the thirteenth staircase at the moment,” Riley said.

Hearing this, the scientist moved himself away from the microphone again to talk to his colleagues.

“She has managed to go farther than the previous test subjects. This one really interests me,” he said. “Perhaps it’s because of her blindness, but she shows success.”

“Yeah, impressive so far,” another scientist agreed. “Let’s see what happens next.”

Dr. Webster nodded and returned to the microphone.

“You’ve gone farther that I told you to, but that’s fine,” he spoke to Riley now. “It’s even better, I’d say. So, are there any changes with the sound location?”

“No, not at all,” Riley admitted. “I’ve already at the thirteenth staircase and the cries still are at the same distance as before. I have such an impression that whoever or whatever makes these sounds, it moves forward simultaneously with me. It’s like when I make a step, it makes a step too.” She swallowed nervously. “What’s going on in this place, doc? Is there really anyone alive here?”

Dr. Webster coughed.

“There might be, but we’re not sure,” he admitted. “That’s why you’re there now, Ms. Olson. With your help we could… Ms. Olson? Can you hear me?”

There was a note of uneasiness in his voice. So far there has been good connection between him and the test subject, but now it was getting worse with every second until he could hear nothing but static. This hasn’t happened before when they sent the test subjects into the stairwell. Something has gone terribly wrong.

“Dr. Webster?” Riley tried to reach him as well but to no avail. The connection began to worsen in the same moment when the scientists started hearing static. Now that was all she heard. “Damn it! Hello? Does anyone hear me? Hello?!”

No response. The static was all the device gave out until it suddenly turned off by itself.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Riley swore loudly, trying to switch the device back on, but soon she gave up. No matter how much she tried, it couldn’t be turned on again. It was dead.

“Oh no…” she sighed with fear and anxiety. “What could have happened? What should I do now?”

For a moment she fell into stupor. All happened so suddenly that she didn’t even manage to react. Riley then told herself to calm down and collect her thoughts. There’s no way she was going to stay in this creepy place and especially continue investigating the source of the cries. She already realized how useless it was as the source of the sound distanced itself from her with her every step. So the best decision would be to go up and hope that the scientists would open the door and let her back into the facility.

She was still oblivious to the fact that she wasn’t alone in this dark and damp stairwell, and the true reason why her device died so unexpectedly. There was a certain someone standing at the end of the thirteenth staircase, waiting and watching her intently…


	4. Chapter 4

There she comes.

Virgil stood in the gap between the stairs and watched as the new test subject slowly descended the dark stairwell. He could already see her approach the staircase and ready to go down. Only one staircase separated her from him. He could see her well enough and noticed some object in her hand. She hit it against the floor several times, and Virgil was curious about the reason for that. And just like the previous test subjects, this female communicated to the doctor; nothing special so far. But as she stopped before making another step down, Virgil noticed something strange.

She was facing him but said nothing.

This raised interest in the monster’s soul. He remember all three test subjects describing his pale face glowing in the dark; and just as he made an attempt to come closer, each of them turned around and run upstairs with a piercing scream that resonated through the stairwell. Virgil truly hoped that this time it would be different, and to his joy, he was right.

This female made no attempt to run away. It was the perfect moment for action.

Virgil decided to change his tactics. He used one of the abilities that the scientists were unaware about. No one knew that the monster of the stairwell could affect electronic devices, and that’s exactly what he did now. Her communication device began working badly, and the female heard nothing but static until the device finally stopped working. Virgil didn’t want any interference from the doctor’s side. They tried to study him for so long, and for so long he yearned for an opportunity to study humans. And now, when the female didn’t try to run from him, the monster wasn’t going to miss the perfect possibility to study this woman. She, in turn, just sighed and turned around, obviously ready to go up. There’s no way Virgil was going to let her leave so fast without taking a better look at her, so he moved a little bit closer to the stairs with such speed that to a human ear it would sound like a light wind. He had to attract her attention at all costs.

To his joy, it seemed to work. The woman stopped where she was and turned to face him again.

“Hello?” she asked but received no answer. She hit her cane against the floor again, making the sound waves resonate against everything in front of her. It helped her realize that she wasn’t alone here.

There was someone or something standing before her.

“I know you’re there, whoever you are,” she spoke into the darkness. “I can feel you.”

With these words she made a few steps forward, slowly approaching the spot where Virgil was. He tilted his head, both of confusion and curiosity. She was looking right at him, but there was absolutely no reaction from her side.

This was becoming interesting. Virgil then decided that it was time to use another ability that would definitely surprise the scientists if they found out about it.

“Can’t you see me?” he asked.

Now it was time for Riley to get the surprise of her life. So there was someone here indeed, and judging by the deep bass, the stranger was male. But there was something out of ordinary in his voice. First of all, he spoke two times slower than an average man; and second, it seemed like the stranger spoke through her mind. And his basso profundo made her think that it might not even be a human being standing before her.

Riley felt her hands shaking. She tried hard to stay calm and not to drop the cane, her only beacon in the surrounding world. She had no idea who or what the stranger was, but his voice barely resembled human. But he asked her a question nonetheless, and she had no other choice but to talk to him.

“Um… no, sir, I can’t,” she replied. “I’m blind.”

“Blind?” the voice asked, and Riley caught the notes of curiosity in it.

“Yes, blind. It means that I can see nothing,” she explained.

There was silence for a minute or two between them. Virgil looked at this rather unusual lady and wondered how she managed to live without the ability to see.

“And how come you are blind?” the deep voice continued the interrogation. “If you are in danger, you have no chance.”

Riley made a deep breath and sighed sadly. This being actually spoke the truth.

“I guess you’re right,” she admitted. “People like me are vulnerable to any danger. Living in darkness and being unable to see doesn’t allow you even run fast. I came into this world blind, and in the moment my eyes opened, I saw nothing but darkness.”

Virgil listened in silence, his curiosity about this woman growing stronger.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked suddenly, catching him by surprise.

“Yes, you can.”

“May I know who exactly you are?” Riley didn’t hide her own curiosity. This being was definitely inhuman, but she had to admit that he was a good conversation partner.

The monster was silent for a moment and then spoke again.

“The humans above named me Virgil, so you can call me that,” he replied. Riley tilted her head, her face expression thoughtfulness.

“Virgil?” she repeated. “That’s a pretty name. I’m Riley, by the way. Strange, the doctors told me nothing about you.”

“Yes, just like they said nothing to the others.”

“The others?” Riley asked in surprise. “Are you implying that there were other people here before me?”

“Yes, there were three,” the monster replied. Now Riley stayed silent for some time.

“I wonder what happened to them?” she thought out loud. It couldn’t be that they were dead, could it? Everything was possible though. She already knew that the scientists would do anything in the name of research.

“Nothing,” Virgil stated simply. “They ran away in the moment I tried to come closer. If you want to know more, ask the humans above.”

The humans above… That’s how he called the scientists. It seemed a little bit funny to Riley, but she doubted that this creature knew what science was. No matter what people do, for him they all are “the humans above”. But now she lost contact with them, and the only being she could now communicate with was Virgil; a being whose identity she still couldn’t really comprehend.

“If I could contact them, I would ask them a few questions,” she muttered more to herself than to Virgil. “But something strange happened to my device. It suddenly stopped working.”

Virgil knew that. He was the reason for her broken device.

“Yes, it will not work,” the monster said. “The others also had this thing they used to talk with the humans above. They ran away with their thing working. Yours will not work.”

“Why?” Riley asked in confusion.

“I was the one who disabled it,” he stated casually. “I can affect these… devices that you humans like to use so much.”

Riley’s mouth opened wide from shock. Did he just say he disabled her communication device? So it wasn’t an accident after all. But with that he disabled her contact with the human world.

“What? Why did you do that?” she asked. There was no irritation in her voice, just deep confusion.

“Because I want you to stay.”

The blind woman tilted her head, pondering about what he said. He wanted her to stay here with him in this stairwell. But why? What were his intentions? Riley had many options, and each of them scared her almost to death. She didn’t expect any good results, but there was still hope that this being would not harm her.

“Why do you want me to stay?” she dared to ask.

“I’m so fed up with humans running away from me,” the monster spoke. “You are the first one who didn’t, and I like it. I know humans want to know more about me, but I never had the chance to know more about your kind. You are interesting. You don’t run away. You talk to me. This is why I want you to stay here with me.”

“Oh…” It was all Riley could say at this moment. While the monster spoke, his words touched the strings of compassion in her heart. She felt sorry for this being that was locked in this stairwell for God knows how long. She realized also that despite being a monster, he knew what interest and curiosity meant.

And most important, he had feelings; and Riley was now sure of one thing.

He was lonely.

“Riley…” the monster suddenly spoke her name.

“Yes, Virgil?”

“Come with me,” he said, and Riley felt the cold touch of his thin fingers on her free hand. “I want to talk to you and know more about you.”

She couldn’t hold back her smile. He wanted to talk and know her better… This touched her deeply. She understood what he felt like no one else did. Just like him, Riley has been lonely all her life; and although she had never been locked anywhere, the feeling was more than familiar to her. She has lived in darkness since her birth; and Virgil most likely has seen nothing but darkness. So despite being so different, they were so similar. How could she reject his request now? It would be the same as pushing away your only friend. Riley didn’t hesitate anymore. It’s not likely that the scientists would go down this stairwell and search for her. They would find another test subject and conduct the experiment again.

If this was what fate has prepared for her, so be it.

“Sure,” she nodded with a smile. “I’ll gladly go with you.”

Virgil was more than happy to hear it. She agreed to come with him. At least he would finally have the chance to know at least one human being better. Only time would show how things were going to develop. For now he was going to use this perfect opportunity to communicate with this female.

Taking her hand, Virgil led the blind lady down into the dark depths of the endless stairwell.


	5. Chapter 5

Touching every step with her cane, Riley slowly descended the staircase. The coldness of Virgil’s touch never left her hand, and she didn’t mind either. No matter who or what he was, she somehow felt she could trust him.

She felt him caring about her.

“Strange,” she mumbled more to herself. “I can hear my footsteps only but can’t hear yours. It’s like you’re floating instead of walking. And what is that sound of someone crying for help? I know now that it’s not you. Is there anyone else alive here?”

“No, it’s just me here,” Virgil replied. “This place creates the sounds that make humans think that there is a living being here. I have nothing to do with it. As for me, I move differently than humans do. Your body is built of flesh and bones, so much I understood. It’s so warm to the touch. Mine is not.”

Riley turned her face to him.

“I can feel it,” she spoke thoughtfully. “Your touch is so cold but at the same time is so soft. It’s like… my hand is wrapped in velvet. It’s the most suitable comparison I can think of.”

“What is velvet?” the monster asked. Riley just smiled. There was so much he didn’t know about people and the things they use. No wonder though. Being locked in a stairwell the entire time robs you of all knowledge about the outside world.

“It is a material that is very soft and pleasant when you touch it,” she tried to explain as much as possible. “People often make things from it, like something to wear or something to sit on; and all with the purpose of a soft feeling and beauty. Besides, velvet is supposed to hold high value. Not all people can allow themselves to have things made of this material; mostly those who have higher rank.”

Virgil was silent for a moment. It really interested him to know more about humans, even if it was just from Riley’s words.

“This is all so strange,” his voice spoke in her mind. “Some of you are allowed to have things that others cannot have. What is the point?”

Now it was her time to keep quiet for some minutes. She had to think a bit on how to explain him better.

“I think it’s all because of a thing that is called “money”. You probably have never known what it is, right?”

“You’re right,” the monster replied. “So what is it?”

“Hmm, how to explain it better…” Riley scratched her head. “I’d say that basically those are pieces of paper or little round metal plates that hold very high value. All of them have numbers. The higher the number is, the more value it holds. This is what people call “money”.”

“All right, but why is it so valuable?” Virgil wanted to know. “Those are just pieces of paper or metal with numbers on them.”

Riley’s lips formed a smile again at this question. In these moments Virgil reminded her of a curious child that doesn’t understand the world and how things work. It seemed even a bit cute to her. Monster or not, but Virgil was very curious. She, in turn, could only wonder why the scientists kept him in this damp stairwell. He also wanted to know the world.

She wished so much that they both could get out of this place…

“Well, it’s difficult for me to tell why it is so,” Riley replied thoughtfully. There were things in the world she found hard to explain. “I’ve heard there are places out there in the human world where they use something else instead of money, but the idea is basically the same. Money is something you exchange for food, clothes… in fact, anything you want. The higher the numbers are the more precious stuff you can get for it. And some people can even kill for money.”

Virgil tilted his head at these words. Human behavior seemed too weird for him to understand. First this thing they called “money”, the value of which he still didn’t really comprehend; and now this. How could any being kill each other for anything like that? It was too much for his mind to process.

People were much stranger than he thought.

“Your kind kills for this money thing? Why?”

Now his voice expressed a bit of confusion. Riley could hear it very well.

“I wish I could tell you, Virgil,” she sighed. “I don’t understand it either. If you ask me, our world is corrupt; and money is one of the reasons. Of course, not all people would do that. For me personally, there are things much more valuable than money. Unfortunately, human life is built around money. If you don’t have any money, you can’t get anything, even food. And such situation is not applicable for life. People would starve which could eventually lead to death.”

“So you want to say that your kind cannot survive without this money thing?” Virgil asked.

Riley nodded.

“Yes, I would say so.”

Virgil growled, but not from anger, and Riley knew it. This growl of his told her about the monster’s thoughtfulness and confusion.

“Your kind is very strange,” he spoke. “Why cannot they live without these papers and metal things? Why do they need some strange objects to live? Why cannot they survive in a natural way? There are too many things I find difficult to understand about humans. But killing each other for such petty things? This is just… too much. I never expected humans to behave that weird.”

Riley sighed and nodded. In fact, the monster was right. She didn’t understand much about her own species as well, so it didn’t surprise her that a monster found it hard to comprehend.

“Well, it is what it is,” she added. “I wish the world was different, but miserable people like me have no power to change anything. All I can do is wish.”

“Now what makes you say that?” Virgil suddenly asked.

Riley now felt confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you call yourself miserable?” he asked with unconcealed disapproval in his voice.

“Well… I guess because I’m unable to see like normal people do,” Riley sighed sadly. “It makes me much slower and helpless in some way.”

She got another growl in response.

“And what then if you do not see like other humans? It doesn’t make you less valuable than others,” Virgil told her. And while he spoke these words, Riley’s heart skipped a beat. His words touched her soul to the depth. No one had ever told her anything like this. Although she never saw it, but something inside told her that people looked at her with pitiful glance like if she really was a miserable creature. And now here she was, locked in a supposedly endless stairwell inside a research facility with an unknown being that wasn’t even human and hearing such wonderful words from him. Most of all what Riley wanted at this moment was the ability to see Virgil. She knew he might be scary in appearance as the previous test subjects ran away in terror in the moment they saw him. But despite being a monster, he wasn’t hostile to her.

No, that was incorrect. He was kind to her.

Tears began filling Riley’s eyes; and no matter how much she tried to hold them back, one of them started running down her cheek. Virgil didn’t miss that.

“What is this running down your face?” he asked, touching her cheek with two of his slender fingers. He has never seen anything like that.

“This is a tear,” Riley explained, sniffling. “It’s a salty liquid that oozes from human eyes in certain situations. And when it happens, it’s called “crying”. People cry when they either feel sad and unhappy or when something touches their heart so deeply that they are unable to hold back the feelings. In my situation it’s the second option. Your words touched me deeply. No one has ever told me things like you told me, Virgil. Even if I’m unable to see, I always felt that people looked at me like at some helpless and miserable being; so I grew up with this feeling. But now, when I heard the best compliment in my life, and it was from a monster… I feel happy.” She let out a quiet giggle. “Yes, sometimes people can cry from happiness too. And I thank you for making me feel this happiness.”

The monster’s fingers were still on her face, but soon enough they were already touching the strands of her hair.

“Well, do you see now?” Virgil said. “What then if you cannot see? You can feel and hear, and that doesn’t make you lower than any other human. You can know much more with feeling than with seeing.”

Riley thought for some time about what he said.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right. I’ve heard though that human vision is very limited. I mean, they see what surrounds them physically, but many things are hidden from their sight. So yes, maybe being blind is only for the better. My senses can tell me much more than I could wish for.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t see any reason for you to be miserable,” Virgil confirmed. Then his glance fell on the cane in her hand. “What is this thing in your hand?”

“It’s a cane,” she replied.

“What do you need it for? I saw you hitting it against the ground.”

“It helps me orientate in the surrounding space,” Riley explained. “When I tap my cane against the ground, the sound waves resonate against things that surround me and I’m able to tell what they are. Thus I know what is around me and where to go. This is called “echolocation”. It’s an ability I developed throughout my life, and I’d say it perfectly replaces the ability to see.”

“You see? There is no reason for you to feel sad,” Virgil repeated. “Now you understand it.”

Riley just nodded. She indeed understood it now. There was no sign of sadness in her heart anymore. In fact, she has never felt so happy like she felt now.

And then the wish to feel the monster with her hands started to fill her.

“May I touch you, Virgil?” she asked timidly. “I mean… I have touched your hand, but I felt your fingers on my face and hair. I’m really curious to feel the rest of you.”

“Yes, you may,” he said. “It’s the first time I allow a human being touch me.”

Riley smiled happily. Things turned out to be better than expected. She didn’t expect him to allow her to touch him, but she appeared to be wrong. Her fingers touched the monster’s face carefully, feeling every protuberance. At least one thing he had in common with humans, and that was his nose. It felt absolutely the same, and so were the cheeks and even eyes. But it couldn’t be said about the rest of his body. It barely resembled a human one, despite him generally being a humanoid creature. Riley couldn’t feel any mouth as well, like if his face ended underneath the nose. Virgil liked the warm touch of her soft skin, and he rubbed his face against her palm to show his appreciation which earned a kind smile from Riley. She had petted animals in her life, and the monster’s head movements reminded her of a satisfied cat that rubs its face against the owner’s hand in a loving manner. If Riley had an opportunity to tell about this to anyone, no one would probably believe her. She had found a friend which appeared to be a monster; but if he was kind to her, it didn’t matter. In fact, it was even better.

Virgil, in turn, knew that for the first time during his existence he finally found out what it means when someone cared about him. People ran from him as soon as they saw him, and this blind girl was like a true gift for him. He wondered what her reaction would be if she saw him one day. Would she also run away and scream in fear? Or would she accept him the way he was? He wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter for him now. All he knew that he cared for this girl just like she cared for him; and for the first time he allowed a human being to touch him. That’s what finally made him understand what happiness is.

Thus this warm moment between the blind girl and a monster of the endless stairwell would last long when suddenly the silence was broken by a hissing noise from upstairs. Virgil tensed instantly and Riley lifted her head up to face the direction of the sound.

They both knew what this sound was.

“You heard that, right?” she almost whispered to him.

“Yes, the door,” the monster growled. “But no human is coming down from above.”

“You’re right. I don’t hear any footsteps or voices either,” Riley confirmed. “That’s weird. Should we check what is going on up there?

“Yes, I would like to know,” Virgil said, his voice expressing thoughtfulness. “It’s not what usually happens. A human comes and then the door closes, like it was with you. Now all I hear is silence.”

Riley and her companion then slowly began ascending the stairs until they reached the ground floor. She tapped her cane again, and the echolocation told her that the door was still open, but no signs of any living soul. Something really strange was going on.

Virgil was also curious about the reason for the door being open so suddenly. Whatever it was, it seemed that the door wasn’t going to close for a while; and he saw no humans anywhere around. It surprised him, but this fact could mean one thing.

He could finally be free.


	6. Chapter 6

“What happened?” Riley asked into the empty room, but no one answered. She then tapped her cane against the floor and used the echolocation ability to help. Judging by the sound waves that resonated through the room, it was absolutely empty, not a living soul in it.

“No humans here,” Virgil stated the fact.

“I wonder why the door opened so suddenly and where everybody went,” Riley pondered aloud. “But it means that you can finally be free, Virgil. Do you understand? This might be your chance to get out of here.”

Freedom. Such a sweet word for Virgil. It was exactly what he yearned for all these years.

“You’re going with me,” he stated simply. Hearing this, Riley turned to face him abruptly.

“What?”

“I can be free, yes, but I’m taking you with me,” the monster spoke. There was no sign of a joke in his voice.

“But… what do you need me for? A lowly creature like me?” Riley asked timidly. Virgil then stood right before her.

“And what do you think?” he asked back. Riley was afraid to annoy him, but she didn’t feel or hear anger while he spoke. “Besides, what makes you think you’re a lowly creature? If I thought you were, you wouldn’t be alive now.”

Riley listened to him in silence, his words touching her heart deeply.

“Those who kept me locked here are the lowly creatures. They are nothing compared to me, miserable pieces of flesh,” Virgil continued. “I would not hesitate to take their life if I encountered one of them, you can be sure of that.”

“Yes, I agree with you on that,” Riley said. “To me, the most cruel people in the entire world are scientists. I already know it. They would stop at nothing in the name of science. No life is important to them, whether it’s human, animal, or a monster. They would torture any living being to achieve their goal.”

“Yes, and this is one of the reasons I’m not leaving you here,” the monster spoke in his slow, profound voice.

“And what’s the other one?” Riley asked. She sounded like an innocent child in this moment.

“You already know the other reason, I explained it to you in the stairwell,” Virgil replied. “I have no problem to take the life away from a human, but I spared yours for a reason. I have always been alone and by myself until you appeared on my way. I might not get another chance to meet another being like you. This is why I’m not leaving you in this place. You’re coming with me.”

Riley barely kept her tears back. Of course, she remembered what he said to her before. No one had told her even one half of the words Virgil told her. For the first time in her life she felt she had finally found a true friend, even if he was an inhuman being. If he treated her well and made her feel needed, then it didn’t matter who or what he was.

He was her only friend.

“Thank you, Virgil,” she whispered. “I truly appreciate your words and your attitude. I have found a true friend in you and I hope it stays that way.”

“Yes, I know,” he said. “So I want you to go with me.”

“And I will,” Riley said confidently. “But I only wonder what happened. Why did the door open so suddenly? I don’t feel anyone’s presence anywhere close. There can be only two options: either something unexpected happened, or it might be a trap.”

“Stick close to me,” Virgil said, taking her hand. “We’re moving out.”

Riley just nodded and followed her inhuman companion. The door to the hallway was open, but not a living soul was around. Virgil looked around, thinking where to go. There were doors on both ends of the hallway, both of them open. The left one was closer to them, so Virgil decided to move that way. Riley had no idea where they were going, but she followed him nonetheless. It would sound insane to any other person if they found out that she trusted a monster and followed him wherever he led her, but she knew she could trust him. Her intuition had never failed her, and now it told her that Virgil could be trusted and he wouldn’t let her down.

As they passed through another open door, they got into a relatively small space with two more doors; one on the left and one straight ahead, both open. Another choice had to be made, but in that very moment it was reduced to only one choice – going straight. Sounds of a man screaming reached Riley’s ears, and it sure didn’t miss Virgil’s attention as well; and it was coming from the door on the left. Soon enough the sound of footsteps followed the screams, and judging by their speed, the man was running. And if he screamed, it could only mean that something chased him. And in a moment the man ran through the door on the left from Virgil and Riley, he screamed one last time before collapsing to the floor with his neck broken.

But that was not all. There was a weird creature standing by the body, and it was clear as a day that it was the one who killed the man.

“What’s going on there, Virgil?” Riley whispered quietly. “The man is dead, right? I heard the sound of bones breaking.”

“Yes, he is. His head has been turned the way I have never seen by humans,” Virgil replied. “And he has some orange stuff on him, just like you have.”

“Oh, you mean he’s dressed like me,” Riley stated. “It means that he was one of the D-class personnel and a test subject, just like me.”

“I can see the one who took the human’s life,” Virgil said. “And it sees us.”

Riley tapped her cane, wishing to know more. The sound waves resonated in the room, helping her to form the contours of a dead body lying on the floor and a strange creature standing at its feet. Although she couldn’t see what exactly it was, but judging by the formed contours, it wasn’t human. Its shape somewhat resembled a large gingerbread man, and it just stood there motionless. It didn’t move when she tapped her cane; but in the moment Riley blinked, she heard a very short sound, like a piece of concrete was moved, but very fast.

“It has moved closer to us,” Virgil stated. Riley gulped nervously.

“Oh God… I think it’s my fault. I attracted it with my cane. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, it is not your cane,” he said. “I saw it move when you closed your eyes for a very short time.”

Now she understood.

“Oh, this is called blinking,” she said. “So this thing moves when I blink or just close my eyes, right?”

“Yes,” Virgil confirmed. “It can do nothing to me, but it seems that it’s after you now. You are the only human here now. It moves very fast, but I can do better than that. Just hold on tight to me.”

Riley had no idea what he was up to but held on to his arm nonetheless. All she felt the next moment was like a very short but rather strong blow of the wind, and then everything went silent again. It’s like nothing had changed, or so it seemed at first.

“You can relax now,” Virgil told her. “That being is not here anymore. You can use your cane now if you want.”

“What did you do?” Riley asked curiously. “Did you destroy it?”

“No, I just moved us away from it. It is not going to find us.”

Riley then tapped her cane again and soon realized that they were in some different hallway. A few seconds ago they were in a small room with three doors, and now the sound waves resonated in a long hallway.

“Wow, so you actually teleported,” she said, realizing it finally. “It’s… It’s just incredible!”

“Teleported?” Virgil repeated the word unknown to him, and it was a question. “Is that how you call the fast movement between locations?”

“Yes, people call it “teleportation”,” Riley explained.

“That being has also teleported then.”

Riley shook her head.

“Not really. I clearly heard it moving, no matter how fast it did. You, in turn, moved without any sounds at all. All I felt was like strong wind blew at me for a mere second. We were in one room and now we are in a completely different location. I’m sure that thing can’t move like this. It’s a truly marvelous ability you have, Virgil. It’s such a pity that I don’t have it.”

“I see,” the monster said. “You may not have it, but as long as you are with me, you can teleport wherever I take you.”

“Yes, and that’s truly wonderful. Thank you so much, Virgil,” she smiled warmly. Then her face became serious. Her mind was occupied with the thoughts about getting out of this place. “So… what exactly was that thing back there? I mean the one that broke a man’s neck.”

“I am afraid I cannot answer that,” Virgil replied. “I have never met it before. But it is hostile to humans, and it reacts on human glance.”

“Yes, and that’s all I have to know about it,” Riley nodded. “Judging by what happened, you have to look at it constantly to survive and never turn your back to it. Once you lose vigilance, you’re finished.”

“So you better watch out,” Virgil stated. The blind woman nodded.

“So there are other creatures here,” she pondered aloud. “I wonder how many of them are kept in this facility?”

“You have to ask the humans about it,” the monster replied. “It looks like I was one of the creatures they kept locked here.”

“Yes, but are all of them hostile? That’s a good question,” Riley said. “You have to encounter them to find out, but to be honest, I don’t cherish this idea. And if that being was roaming around, it means that other creatures are also free.”

“Yes, and I can teleport you away or destroy them if things get too dangerous,” Virgil said. “All right, enough talking. Let us move.”

Riley nodded, allowing him to take her hand and lead her forward. She had no idea where they were going, but she followed Virgil obediently. No one knows what danger might be lurking in the depths of this facility, but they had to get out.

The dangerous journey had just begun.


	7. Chapter 7

Following her companion through the facility, Riley’s thoughts fought with each other for space in her mind. Now was the moment when she truly wished she could see at least something, but, on the other hand, the other part of her told her that ignorance is bliss. This psychological friction inside her sometimes felt almost unbearable. Most of all she wanted to know where exactly she was and where to go, but the wish to know what her mysterious companion looked like was stronger. But the knowledge about the other monsters lurking around spoke the contrary. If she saw any of them she sure would have freaked out and fallen into a state of panic. So she concluded that there is never anything bad without good. The same could be said about her being chosen as a test subject for experiments with monsters, but she ended up finding a true friend among them. So life is not always unfair, isn’t it?

No one knew how long they moved through different locations of the SCP facility. It felt like time was nonexistent in this place. It was hidden deep under the ground where no ray of sun broke through ever. No one had an idea whether it was day or night now. Not like it mattered now anyway. The only important thing was to get out of here and stay alive.

Virgil relied on his feeling that told him where exactly to go. It would be very easy to get lost in this facility, but not for him. When he wanted something, he would achieve his goal, whatever it takes. And he was sure that this time wouldn’t be an exception. He wanted to get out of here and take his only friend with him. It would take some time to reach the surface, but the monster of the dark stairwell knew that he would complete his mission.

Thus they passed more and more rooms and hallways, hearing the sounds of screams and gunshots now and then. Whatever creatures were there, they managed to get to their victims later or soon. Riley could only hope that they wouldn’t stumble on any of those things, but sometimes hopes can break like thin ice.

And that’s exactly what happened when Virgil suddenly stopped.

“Stand back,” he commanded. Riley obeyed, not really comprehending what exactly was going on, but she understood in a moment. She could clearly hear someone crying. And it wasn’t regular human being. The cries sounded insane and in such a voice that only a psychopath could cry; and that’s in the best case scenario.

“Who is there?” she asked. “I can hear somebody crying like crazy.”

“I can see it,” Virgil replied in his profound voice. “The creature that is making these sounds.”

_Damn it, another monster ahead._

“Can you please tell me how it looks like?” Riley asked. It was always better to know what you’re dealing with instead of remaining in the unknown. And everyone knows that the unknown is the worst.

“In some way it looks like me,” Virgil told her. “But only a little bit. Its body is somewhat similar to mine. It is tall and pale and has long limbs.”

“Oh… but I guess this is generally something entirely different from you.”

“Yes, it is,” her companion agreed. “It turned away from us and covered its face. It looks like this being doesn’t like to be looked at.”

And then, just like a confirmation to Virgil’s statement, the pale humanoid leaped up and rushed towards the uninvited guests with a fierce and shrilling scream. But as soon as just a few centimeters separated it from Virgil, the creature stopped right where it was. And then it fell backwards like if some kind of force pushed it away, making it land on its back. Riley couldn’t see it but in the moment when the screaming monster approached her companion, one of Virgil’s arms stretched out and his thin-fingered hand touched the attacker’s head, blocking his movement forward. That’s when the pale being flew away from them like a rag doll and landed on its back. Understanding that the thing that threw him like that is much stronger than he thought, the pale humanoid let out another piercing howl and retreated to the corner, covering his face and turning his back to Virgil and Riley.

“We better get moving,” Virgil spoke, and Riley couldn’t agree more.

“Yes, sure,” she said. “But may I ask what just happened?”

“That thing tried to attack,” he said. “But I showed him that he made a big mistake.”

“Really? What did you do then?”

“I pushed him away,” Virgil stated simply. “He understood that challenging my strength is not a good idea, so he retreated. And we better continue going if you want to live.”

Riley just nodded this time and followed Virgil wherever he took her. She wanted to know more details about how exactly he got rid of that screaming creature but she knew that now it wasn’t the best time for talking. Virgil was right – if she wanted to live, they had to move; and fast.

She wondered how many workers of this facility had managed to survive. The SCP facility sure had to be a large one, and that meant there had to be lots of workers here. Not only scientists, but also cleaning staff and living test subjects; the ones like herself. Sure someone could have been lucky to survive, but Riley somewhat doubted that. The creatures they kept here were undoubtedly hostile to humans, so no one would envy your fate if you encounter one of them. They are extremely fast, and if one of them appears on your way, you better run; although even that doesn’t work with each of the beings. Riley remembered the previous strange creature they encountered; the one that reminded her of a gingerbread man by its shape. That one attacked only if you turn your back to it or close your eyes. As long as you keep eye contact with it, you have a chance to live. And now this crying thing… From what Virgil deducted, that being hated to be looked at and got fierce when someone sets his eyes on him; and that triggers the attack. It seemed that encountering each creature required specific tactics of dealing with them. You have to know how to behave with them, and then maybe you could survive after all.

She was so lucky to have Virgil near. And he truly deserved freedom.

“I think we should find an elevator,” Riley suddenly spoke.

“An elevator?” Virgil asked. This was something new to him.

“Yes, it’s a special thing that can take you up or down, whatever you prefer,” she explained. “It looks like a small cabin where several people can fit in. It can take us at least a level or two higher.”

“And why do you think we have to go higher?”

“Because this facility is located deep underground,” Riley replied. “You see, this is top secret facility, and all top secret facilities are always well hidden under the ground where no one can find them. This is why we have to go higher; we have to reach the top floor to get out on earth.”

“I got you. Let us do it then,” Virgil agreed. This was what he hadn’t thought about, the facility being located underground. He thought the stairwell that he was living in was located underground, but the rest of the facility was on the ground. Now he realized that he was wrong. Now his wish to get out of this place was stronger than ever. He would finally be able to see the earth where humans live; something he had no idea about. What Riley told him about was interesting, but those are still words nonetheless. He wished to see everything with his own eyes.

But more that everything, he wanted them both to be free.

They had to get out of here at all costs.


	8. Chapter 8

It took time for them to find the elevator. The SCP facility was huge; and if Riley was able to see, she sure would have called it a maze. She hadn’t tapped her cane since the moment they encountered a gingerbread-like thing that snapped a man’s neck. Attracting unwanted attention was the last thing she wanted.

The Virgil stopped again.

“Hmm…” he mused loudly. “This might be the elevator thing you talked about.”

“Are you sure? Tell me what you see.”

“It is a very small room with door open and bright light in it,” the monster replied. “There is nowhere else to go if you enter it.”

“And is there anything that looks like a button right near the door?” Riley asked him.

“There is some little round thing on the wall, yes.”

Her mouth stretched in a satisfied smirk.

“Good, then it really is an elevator,” she said triumphantly. “Let’s go then.”

They began moving to the elevator right away, but then something suddenly made them stop. There was a squishy sound coming from somewhere above them. Riley tensed and listened. She instinctively lifted her head to look up although she knew it was useless as all she could see was darkness. Virgil looked up as well and saw a dark spot forming on the ceiling. That’s what appeared to be the source of the nasty squishing sound. They would have ignored it if it wasn’t for the body that fell out of that spot and landed in a less than a meter from Virgil and Riley. The sound of an impact startled her a bit so she turned to her monstrous companion again.

“Oh my God, what was that?” she whispered. “What has just fallen before us?”

“It is a dead human,” Virgil said. “It fell from the dark spot above us.”

“A dark spot? What are you talking about? And what was that squishy sound I heard seconds before the body fell?”

“I’m afraid I cannot answer that,” he replied. “The sound you say you heard was this dark spot appearing up above. I know no more.”

“Well, if something killed this human, it means that the creature is somewhere nearby,” Riley stated the fact. “And it looks like that thing is one floor above us. Anyway, let’s see where the elevator takes us.”

She and Virgil entered the elevator, but before going somewhere, they had to know which buttons to press.

“Wait a moment,” she said, touching the buttons. “Let me feel them. Thus I might tell which button to press.”

Virgil said nothing and just watched what his blind companion was doing. Riley touched every button and felt each convex. Thus she found out what the numbers were by each button, and so far each of them had a minus on the left which indicated how many floors below the ground they were. Altogether it had floors numbered from -15 to -10. Riley then pressed the -10 button.

“What did you just press?” Virgil asked her. He didn’t understand what the elevator was and how to use it.

“The floors numbers have a thing called ‘minus’ by them which means how deep we are below the ground,” Riley said. “The larger the number with a minus is, the deeper we are underground. This elevator will bring us five floors higher. That’s all it has. Not much, but it’s better than nothing. I guess we will have to find another elevator when we arrive to the -10th floor.”

Virgil was silent, but now it was his turn to trust his blind companion. She sure knew what she was talking about, so he joined her in the elevator and watched how she found the right button with the help of her fingers and pressed it. He heard something humming around them which indicated that the elevator began moving.

It didn’t take long to reach the -10th floor, and as soon as they walked out of the elevator, it felt at first that they were at the same floor as before. It all looked so similar. Of course, Riley couldn’t know it, but Virgil saw everything. It all looked almost identical, but he knew he wouldn’t get lost. All they had to do was to find another elevator and go even higher than this level. Riley then would find which buttons to press.

As they began moving forward, Riley suddenly began talking quietly.

“Tell me one thing, Virgil… This dead human that fell from somewhere up above us…”

“What about it?” the monster asked. He was curious why she suddenly remembered about it now.

“How did he look like? I mean, did he have orange clothes on him, just like mine?”

“No, he had something white on him.”

To that, Riley scratched her chin.

“White, you say?” she said thoughtfully. “It seems like this time one of the scientists was killed. But by whom or by what? That’s the question.”

“Do you really want to find out?” Virgil asked, tilting his head. “Unlike me, you would be gone very fast if you found it out.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she agreed. “Come on, let’s go then. We better find another elevator that will take us higher.”

Each level in the SCP facility had two elevators at both ends, except for the ground floor and the lowest level. Despite every floor being quite impressive in size, it was enough to have just two elevators. One of them could take you higher; the second could bring you to the lower levels. It was quite a convenient system of moving between the levels. Virgil led his companion through the -10th floor now, knowing how the elevator looked now, so it wouldn’t be a problem for him to find it. They were now approximately in the middle of their route when an already familiar squishing sound could be heard nearby again.

“Damn, this noise again,” Riley swore without voice. “I suppose another black spot has formed somewhere, and judging by how loud the sound is, it’s nearby. Am I right?”

“That is right,” Virgil replied. “This time it is on the ground near us. And I can see a dark being crawling out of it.”

“What? What being?” Riley whispered, her limbs shaking in fear. “You want to say it crawled out of the floor?”

“Precisely.”

Riley’s breath was erratic. Those creatures were everywhere. If it wasn’t for Virgil, she would have been dead a long time ago.

“Does it see us?” she asked.

“It can see me, but not you behind me,” Virgil replied. “And it shows no interest towards me. It is looking for human victims. So stay where you are and do not make a sound.”

Riley nodded silently and followed Virgil’s advice, afraid to move a muscle. Whatever that creature was, it surely was no less dangerous than the ones they had met on their way so far. If she was able to see, Riley would have compared this being with a shaggy old man. It was the same monster that killed the scientist and somehow threw it down through the ceiling, and now it crawled from the floor in the same miraculous way. She stood there, pressed between Virgil and the wall, feeling so frightened that she was even unable to breathe at this moment.

The old humanoid, in turn, looked around after crawling out from his sort of a portal between the locations of the facility. There was no one alive around except for a weird, phantom-like being standing at the wall and watching him. But that wasn’t what the being needed. His victims were humans to trap in his own so-called ‘pocket dimension’, not other monsters that roamed around the facility. He had encountered some before, but neither of them showed any interest towards the dark humanoid. Neither was he interested in them. He managed to catch one human very recently and trap him in his dimension, but the man failed to find the right exit from there, and it resulted in losing his life. The old humanoid then threw him out through the floor and through the ceiling to the level beneath, and that’s when it landed right before Riley and Virgil.

Now all he could see was a strange creature with a pale face visible in the dark. The old humanoid then walked by, not showing any signs of interest towards Virgil. He couldn’t see Riley behind Virgil’s back as he covered her well enough for anyone else to see. Virgil watched the black humanoid walk to one of the walls, and that’s when another large and black spot appeared on it with the same squishy sound; and in a second or two the creature was gone.

Virgil then uncovered Riley, allowing her to move away from the wall.

“It is gone now, you can relax,” he said. Riley was still tense though and listened carefully.

“Is it safe?” she asked. “There was that sound again. Does it mean that whenever we hear it, this being appears and disappears?”

“Yes,” Virgil confirmed her guess. “I saw it move to the wall on the left and go through the black spot he created in it. It looks like they serve him as doorways.”

“Damn, that’s just great,” Riley huffed angrily. “I thought that if you walk into another room and close the door, you’re safe; the walls can keep the monster at bay. But now I can see how terribly wrong I was. There is at least one creature that can walk through the walls. Shit.”

“He saw me but walked by,” Virgil told her. “The beings here are not interested in each other; that you can be sure of. They just look for humans. This dark being saw me but not you, so he just went away.”

Riley gifted him a warm, kind smile.

“Thank you, Virgil,” she said gently. “It’s another time when you save my life. I truly owe you. I can tell you one thing: you really deserve to be free. It’s unfair that you were kept locked here for years. But now we have to do anything to undo this error.”

“Yes, and if I deserve anything, that would be having someone like you near,” he replied back. One more time Riley’s heart skipped a beat. He sure knew how to touch the depths of her heart.

“Well then… off we go,” she said. “We still have a long way ahead.”


	9. Chapter 9

The -10th floor didn’t bring any severely dangerous surprises. At least they didn’t encounter any of the dangerous creatures on their way. But just as they passed some sort of a bridge in a large room with dim light in it, some black smoke blocked their way right when they almost approached the door. Strange enough was that the smoke disappeared when they made a few steps backwards.

“This is interesting,” the monster spoke thoughtfully. “This black smoke appears only when we come close.”

“I don’t think it’s just smoke then,” Riley said in a bit concerned voice.

“Why is that?”

“It wouldn’t work that way if it was just smoke,” she explained. “If it blocks the way when you approach a certain spot, then it can only be some kind of poisonous gas. It can harm a human being if he doesn’t wear a special gas mask. And, of course, I don’t have one.”

“That is not a problem,” Virgil calmed her down. “I can get you past the gas so it does not even manage to appear. Do you remember how fast I can move?”

“Oh, how can I forget?” Riley smiled to him. “Your speed is incredible.”

“Hold tight to me then.”

Riley felt his slender arms wrap around her and she did the same, holding her cane firm in one hand. She didn’t even manage to blink when they were already past the gas spot, and now the hissing sound of the gas appearing was already behind their backs. It was so far the only obstacle on their way to freedom; and soon enough they reached the opposite end of this floor where another elevator was located.

Riley touched the buttons carefully and the numbers nearby. In this elevator the floors were numbered from -10 to -5, so she pressed the -5 button. The doors shut with a loud hissing sound and the elevator began moving up.

“One more to go and we will reach the floor zero, the ground floor. That’s where the exit is,” Riley told her companion. “We’re so close to freedom, Virgil, I can feel it.”

“Then we better hurry,” Virgil said, holding her hand tight. Riley couldn’t agree more. The closer they were to their goal, the more fire burnt inside her; the fire of her strong will. She thought she was brought here to die, but now fate has given her a chance to live and be free.

And that’s the chance she definitely wouldn’t miss.

As she and her monstrous companion moved through the multitude of rooms and hallways, they could hear a new sound in the distance. Virgil and Riley stopped right there and listened.

It was such a familiar sound to Riley’s ears.

She could clearly hear human voices far ahead.

“Come on, Kyle, this way,” one of them urged the other one. “We just have to find another elevator, and then we’re free.”

“Yes, doctor,” the man named Kyle replied. “I just hope we won’t stumble on more creatures. We barely escaped from the SCP-173 with our necks unbroken. I damn wouldn’t want to see that thing ever again.”

“Well, me neither, to tell you the truth,” the scientist said. “But shit, I really didn’t expect the containment breach in this facility. Everything seemed absolutely safe and stable. How the hell could that happen?”

Riley listened to their conversation and huffed.

“What is it?” Virgil asked. “Those sound like humans.”

“Yes, they are,” she said. “And I god damn know who exactly they are. I heard their voices so many times that I think I would be able to recognize them among millions.”

Virgil watched her, his head tilted.

“One of them is named Kyle. It’s the security guard that took me out of my cell and let me to the scientist for an experiment,” she explained their identities to him. “The other one is Dr. Webster, the same scientist that I was taken to. He locked me in the stairwell with you. He knew damn well what awaited me, and he never told me that there were three more people sent down there. Scientists are cruel beings, believe me.” She sighed sadly. “No life matters to them in the name of science.”

“They will not bother you anymore when we are free,” Virgil said confidently. “So shall we follow them?”

“Yes, we should,” Riley said “but don’t let them see us just yet, and listen to what they talk about. We might hear some useful clues.”

Thus Riley and Virgil followed Dr. Webster and the security guard, keeping distance from them. From their conversation they found out that each creature had its own code number. The SCP-173 was the gingerbread-like thing, and the SCP-106 was dubbed ‘The Old Man’. Riley deducted that it was the being that walked through the walls, its appearance and disappearance accompanied by a squishy sound. The crying pale humanoid was under the number of SCP-096, dubbed as ‘The Shy Guy’. _A perfect name for that thing,_ Riley mused in her mind. He hated to be looked at and got into the state of rage when that happened. Virgil’s number was SCP-087-1, as the number of SCP-087 was given to the stairwell where he was kept in.

The scientist and his bodyguard were discussing the most dangerous monsters that could be encountered in the facility, and Riley managed to catch the information about one more being that they hadn’t seen so far. It had the code number of SCP-049, known among the staff as ‘The Plague Doctor’. Riley remembered her school time when they had history lessons. They were told about the bubonic plague pandemic in the late medieval age, commonly known as ‘Black Death’. That’s when the plague doctors got a lot of work to do. And from what she remembered, these doctors wore dark overcoats and got their faces covered by bird-like masks with long beaks. But why did they keep a plague doctor in this facility? As far as she knew, the plague doctors have all been human. But if one is kept here, then it means that this particular plague doctor unlikely is a human being. It has to be a monster that resembles a plague doctor by appearance. Who knows what abilities he had? On the one hand, Riley was curious about it; but, on the other hand, she doubted she really wanted to know it. As all the creatures they met in this facility, the plague doctor had to be dangerous as well.

But the most important clue that Riley and Virgil heard from Dr. Webster and Kyle’s conversation was that there was a lever hidden beneath the reception desk on the ground floor. If you pull this lever, it would open the secret door that is the exit from the facility. Riley was glad to know it. Thus they wouldn’t have to waste time and search for the way to find the exit. Now they knew it.

They were one more step closer to freedom.


	10. Chapter 10

Virgil and Riley continued following Dr. Webster and the security guard, trying to stay out of sight for now. They hoped to reach the ground level and watch where exactly was the mentioned lever hidden that opens a secret exit door. The guard was armed, but it was very unlikely that his weapon could do any harm to Virgil or any other creature in the SCP facility. So far they had stumbled on human corpses only but never of any dead creature whatsoever. It seemed that the only way to remove the problem was trying to contain them again, but who knows how many of those beings were roaming around the facility? If the scientists failed to contain them, then what could be said about a helpless member of D-class personnel, especially the one that was unable to see? It was simply mission impossible. The only option left was to try and reach the surface, and Riley and her companion were determined to complete their mission at all costs.

The scientist and the guard were approaching the elevator that would take them five levels higher, and that would be the last ascent they had to take. There were several meters left to walk till the elevator when the two men suddenly stopped.

And judging by the sound, it was more than clear why they did it.

“Do you hear that?” Dr. Webster whispered to the guard. “SCP-106 is around here somewhere. Keep your weapon ready. At least we can slow it down a bit if it tries to attack and buy us some time.”

“Yes, doctor,” Kyle said, aiming his automatic rifle to the source of the squishy sound. As it was rather dark where they were, it was difficult to see where exactly the sound was coming from; but as loud as it was, they deducted it was somewhere very close, almost at their feet.

Dr. Webster’s eyes went wide from horror when he realized what was going on.

“Kyle?” he addressed the guard, getting his attention at once. “Step away from where you’re standing and fast!”

Kyle was ready to obey the scientist, but before he managed to make even one single step, he realized that a large black puddle had already formed right beneath him; and in the next second a black humanoid appeared from it and grabbed the guard by his legs, dragging him down inside the puddle.

“Kyle! No!” the scientist yelled out, watching as the security guard disappeared in the black puddle literally in a split second; only his rifle remained lying on the floor. Dr. Webster picked it up quickly, aiming at the puddle. Nothing happened for a minute or two until the creature known as the SCP-106, or “The Old Man”, appeared from it again, hunting for the second victim. But the scientist didn’t panic. He already had a plan in mind on how to get rid of this thing. Trying to get to the elevator and go up wasn’t an option. This thing could easily get through the floors as ceilings, so the only way to get rid of it was to contain it again like it was before the breach.

“Over here, you ugly freak!” Dr. Webster hissed through gritted teeth, addressing the old humanoid that started walking towards him. “Yes, just like that. Come and get me if you can!”

With that he started running to a completely different direction, the Old Man chasing after him. Virgil watched the entire scene curiously, wondering whether the scientist got out of this situation alive so that he could lead them both to what they were looking for.

“It was the so-called ‘Old Man’, right? The one that walks through walls,” Riley more stated than asked a question. “I guess he’s after Dr. Webster now.”

“True,” Virgil confirmed her guess. “Do you think we can find what we need without the scientist’s help?”

Riley scratched her chin, thinking.

“It’s going to take more time than I thought, but I think we can do it.”

Virgil replied nothing this time and just held his companion’s hand tighter. They were so close to freedom, he could feel it. They resumed their walking towards the elevator that would take them to the floor 0, not wasting any more time.

This was their only chance to be free.

***

Dr. Webster knew where to go. The containment chamber for the SCP-106 was located on the -10th floor, so now he was forced to descent five levels lower to achieve his goal. He knew that the creature that killed Kyle wouldn’t stop until it gets to its desired victim, so it wouldn’t be a problem for it to get down after him. The man’s heart was beating rapidly in his chest as he ran out of the elevator after it reached the -10th floor. Cold sweat ran down his temples when the nasty sound of squishing reached the edge of his ear. The Old Man has descended to the same level and followed the scientist persistently. The doctor ran and ran, and although he felt his lungs already burning from the lack of oxygen, he wasn’t going to stop. SCP-106 was one of the most dangerous creatures in the facility, and it had to be contained at all costs.

Dr. Webster had finally managed to reach the chamber with a huge container-like thing in the middle. The room had two entrances: one from upstairs where the doctor now was, and the one on the lower lever. The container also had two doors, both of them open. He ran to the stairs, looking back nervously. This was a very crucial moment. The Old Man was still on his tail, but Dr. Webster wasn’t going to give up.

This time he would win this cat-and-mouse game.

“Here I am!” he yelled, waving his arms frantically and trying to have the Old Man’s attention on him. “Come on, walk right over here!”

The Old Man just continued walking towards the scientist just like it did before. That thing was very persistent, and Dr. Webster knew it. He quickly descended down the stairs and ran into the container through the closest of the doors. Waiting until the monster approached the entrance, the doctor ran forward and to the control panel right by the container. He slammed the lock button with his fist, and both entrances of the large container sealed themselves shut, trapping the Old Man inside. The container itself was made of a special and a very solid material that was perfectly resistant to the Old Man’s ability to melt the walls, ceilings, and floors. As a final step, Dr. Webster pulled the lever that lifted the container up so that it looked like if it was hanging in the air. That was how it was from the beginning, before the containment breach.

The SCP-106 was contained and now wasn’t going to cause any trouble.

“Finally,” Dr. Webster said with a deep, relaxing breath. “It’s time to move back to the elevator.”

***

Meanwhile Riley and Virgil got to the final elevator without any occurrences. The blind girl touched all the buttons, just like before, and pressed the one that had a sight of number zero at it. And just as they arrived to the highest level possible in the SCP facility, Riley wasn’t hurrying to walk forward boldly. There still might be some obstacles on their way.

“Virgil?” she suddenly addressed her companion. The monster’s head snapped into her direction instantly.

“Yes?”

“Please tell me what you see in front of us,” she asked gently. Virgil looked forward, studying their surroundings.

“I see a long hallway that has two turns on both sides of it,” he said. “And in the end of the hallway I can see stairs that lead somewhere up.”

“Good, then I guess we should move straight ahead, to the stairs.”

Both began then their walk forward, but before they reached the intersection, a weird sound could be heard from somewhere in the left hallway. Virgil stopped abruptly, holding Riley’s hand tight and listening carefully.

It was a voice, but there was something not right about it. It didn’t sound human but more like a robot or something.

“So many traces of Pestilence here…” it spoke. “The Scourge! The Scourge! The Great Dying! But I can cure it. My cure is the most effective.”

Riley began breathing frantically. There was definitely another creature there, and a sentient one. And just like Virgil, it could talk. It spoke about some kind of pestilence which was rather weird in these conditions. Sure, the containment breach was a very serious matter, but what pestilence was it talking about? Usually the pestilence meant some kind of a pandemic. First of all, a pandemic of plague.

And that’s when it dawned on her.

It was the creature with the code of SCP-049.

The Plague Doctor.


	11. Chapter 11

“Damn, it’s the plague doctor!” Riley whispered, attracting her companion’s attention instantly.

“Who is it again?” Virgil asked.

“The plague doctor,” she repeated the creature’s name. “There were such doctors a very long time ago when a deadly disease, known as the plague, spread around the European continent. It’s just one part of the world. But all the plague doctors were human then.”

“If they were, and it happened a long time ago, as you say, then did one of those plague doctors live that long to be kept here?” Virgil was now curious. He had never heard about plague or any human disease whatsoever. Was somebody ill here then? Why would they keep a plague doctor here otherwise? It seemed weird even to him.

Riley shook her head, smiling. Virgil’s curiosity sometimes made her smile.

“No, no, it’s not like that,” she said. “It’s actually one of the monsters they kept contained in this facility. They just call him a plague doctor. And from what we just heard, he talks like if he really was a plague doctor. But don’t let it fool you. It’s not a human being.”

Her explanation made things clearer for Virgil, but before he managed to reply, he heard the sound of footsteps in the left hallway. Riley didn’t miss them too and tensed, listening. She expected the creature hearing them and coming their way, but the steps were too light to belong to an inhuman creature.

They sounded human.

Virgil moved in front of the blind woman and looked into the darkness of the hallway. He could clearly see an ordinary human man coming their way, dressed in orange clothing, just like Riley was. But there was something weird about him. He walked forward, not even reacting at an inhuman being standing before him. He was looking at Virgil and Riley, but the man’s glance was empty. And when the distance between the man and Virgil reduced a bit, the monster realized that the stranger was actually going not to him, but to Riley. It was like he either didn’t understand what he was doing, or he walked with a clear purpose to do some harm.

To Virgil, it seemed more like the second option.

There was no time to lose, and Virgil knew it. If he didn’t react right now, Riley was in grave danger. He stretched his flexible, boneless arms to the approaching man and grabbed him, lifting the body in the air. The man was writhing and undulating in the monster’s grasp, but not a single sound of fear or panic came from him. He still looked like if he was in some kind of trance. Besides, as Virgil now saw, the man’s skin had a weird color, much paler and even a bit grey. Riley didn’t have such skin color, or even a few dead humans that they saw on their way. This man looked unnaturally pale.

What’s more, Virgil couldn’t even feel the man’s heartbeat. He always felt it when humans approached him, even if the distance wasn’t too short. Only the dead ones didn’t have heartbeat. This man hadn’t one, but somehow he was still walking.

Virgil was confused. Something strange was going on. But whatever the case was, he wasn’t going to let this man go. He obviously possessed a threat to Riley, and each threat had to be eliminated. So the monster grabbed the man’s head with his thin fingers and turned it around, snapping his neck. The man stopped moving in a second, so Virgil dropped the limp body on the ground at his feet.

“What happened, Virgil?” Riley asked in a concerned voice. “I just heard someone walking and now it seems that someone’s bones were broken. The sound is perfectly recognizable.”

“Yes, it was a human. I had to kill him,” Virgil stated simply. Riley’s eyes went wide.

“You killed a human being?” she asked in shock. “Why?”

“How should I explain…” he began, thinking “It was a human being, but at the same time there was something not right about him. I could not feel his heartbeat, like if he was not alive; and yet he was still walking. And his skin had a different color, not like yours. He walked not to me, like if I was not here, but he was clearly after you; and it seemed that he meant to harm you. So I had to react and eliminate him.”

Riley processed the information she just heard. What Virgil told her made her feel strong anxiety. The man’s behavior he described didn’t sound normal at all. Also, the skin color was different? Was it an Afro-American man, or maybe Asian? It could explain the different skin color. But what terrified her truly was when he said that the man had no heartbeat and yet he still walked. It already sounded like a walking dead.

“What do you mean – he had no heartbeat? And what about the skin color?” she asked, wanting to know the details. “Was it dark or brown? It might be one of those who are called ‘Afro-American’ or ‘Asian’, the representatives of different human races.”

“No, it was not dark or brown,” the monster replied. “It was similar to yours but at the same time it wasn’t like yours. I haven’t seen such skin color by humans. It was more of a grey color than usual human one. And yes, like I said, he had no heartbeat at all, like it is by dead creatures.”

“Oh my God… it couldn’t be that this man was a living dead, could it?” Riley mused aloud. The words ‘living dead’ made Virgil tilt his head.

“A living dead? Is it really possible?” he asked. “How can it be? Either you live or you are dead.”

“I know, I know. I don’t believe in such things as living dead,” Riley said confidently. “The dead body can’t rise up by itself. Heck, I never believed that it could be reanimated in any way or form. But judging by what you said… I’m not so sure anymore. If that's the case, then that man has been reanimated. I mean, he was somehow brought back to life, but he wasn’t alive at the same time. I can only assume that it’s the work of that plague doctor creature. It looks like he can revive the dead.”

It was still difficult for Virgil to comprehend the idea about the walking dead bodies, but there was no time to think of anything as the familiar robotic voice broke the silence again.

“Who is there?” it spoke. “Show yourself! There is no need to be afraid. I’m here to help”

These words then were followed by heavy footsteps, heavier than average human ones. Riley stepped behind Virgil to be completely hidden by him, and he himself stood where he was. He could see a humanoid in a black cloak approaching them, his face completely covered by a silver-colored mask with a long beak.

“Ah, I was not aware we had company. We rarely get visitors here,” the plague doctor spoke in his mechanical voice. Riley felt shivers run down her skin from that sound. She felt that the creature’s glance was focused on her, not on Virgil. “Come over here, do not be afraid. I can see you’re not well. I can cure your sickness.”

“I do not think this human has any sickness,” Virgil spoke back, referring to Riley. The plague doctor stopped abruptly when his eyes fell on a strange creature standing before him and covering a human female with his body. That was unexpected. Seeing another inhuman being here wasn’t something out of ordinary. Before ascending up, he had noticed the Old Man passing by from wall to wall some time ago, or the Shy Guy who rarely stopped sobbing and covering his face. The creatures of the SCP facility had no interest in each other. They hunted humans, and each monster had his purpose for that. For the plague doctor, it was curing and cleaning everything of something that he called ‘pestilence’.

But seeing one such creature protecting a human… That was something new.

As for Riley, she sure had no idea what he actually meant with the pestilence. If someone had plague, it might have spread fast around the facility, but no human being here was sick before the breach.

“Sir, I have no idea what you mean with the ‘sickness’, but the only problem I’ve had since the moment of my birth was the inability to see,” she finally dared to address the plague doctor. The creature’s blue eyes were focused on her while she continued talking. “And if I may ask… do you actually revive the dead? The man that walked here… he had no heartbeat.”

“Well, sort of,” the cloaked creature said. “The man had disease, and I cured him. He rose as a healthy being afterwards. As you can see, my cure is most effective.”

Riley blinked fast. Was he referring to that man that was practically a zombie? What cure was he actually talking about? It was curious on the one hand, but, on the other hand, Riley knew she wouldn’t like to know it as this creature would definitely want to use his ‘cure’ on her. But Virgil wasn’t going to allow it, and she knew it.

The plague doctor then turned his attention to Virgil.

“And who would you be?” he asked.

“You can call me Virgil. That is the name the doctors gave me,” the phantom-like monster replied. “I was kept in an endless stairwell all this time until I got out, just like you. And this human,” he referred to Riley “is coming with me.”

“Virgil is my only friend here, sir,” Riley added. The plague doctor sure was an intelligent being, so she decided that maybe it would be better to call his ‘sir’. After all, respect has never done any harm.

“Ah, a friend?” the cloaked creature said. “Isn’t it always good to have one? Even if it is not a man like you?”

“If he is kind to me and accepts me as a worthy being instead of treating me like a piece of flesh for hunting, then it doesn’t matter whether he’s human or not,” Riley answered confidently. “And I’m truly glad to have someone like Virgil near. I will never leave him behind and he will never leave me. This is what true friendship means.”

After these words the plague doctor’s interest in this unusual couple only increased, especially in Riley. She was the first human on his way that was unable to see. It sure could make her an easy target, but this Virgil has become her protector; and he was no less dangerous than the plague doctor himself or any hostile creature in SCP facility. And she chose to be by a creature’s side instead of the representatives of her race. This was something truly extraordinary.

But before any of them spoke another word, the elevator door suddenly opened with a loud noise. All three turned in the direction of the sound instantly to see who was coming their way.

Remembering the events on the -5th floor, Riley expected to see only one person.

It was no other than Dr. Webster with an automatic rifle in his hands.


	12. Chapter 12

For a moment there was absolute silence in the hallway. The surprised scientist glared at the three different beings standing in the middle of the crossing. He sure didn’t expect to see two of the most dangerous creatures in the SCP facility together, but much more shocking it was to notice a test subject with them, especially the one that was blind and most helpless of them all.

“Greetings,” the plague doctor spoke first, addressing the shocked man. His glance first fell on the cloaked figure and then on the phantom-like creature and the blind girl beside it.

“G-greetings…” Dr. Webster stuttered, still finding it hard to believe what he saw. “Miss Olson..? Virgil..? How did you..?”

The doctor could barely form at least one coherent sentence, so strong was the shock. Riley, in turn, didn’t look very surprised to find out that he survived and made it here. As the Old Man began chasing him, she understood that the scientist knew for sure what he had to do. So it was no big surprise that he managed to survive. And Virgil looked unaffected by any recent occurrences.

“Virgil?” the plague doctor’s voice rang through the hallways, his masked face turning to Riley’s companion.

“That is the name the doctors gave me,” Virgil explained to the plague doctor, so in this case only he and Riley could hear the phantom’s voice. “You can call me that. I had no name before.”

“By the way, whoever gave it to him, I’d like to express my gratitude,” Riley added confidently. “This is a very beautiful name that suits him perfectly. Pride and majesty combined in one name.”

“Miss Olson…” the scientist’s glance was now concentrated on her. “How did you manage to stay alive all by yourself and successfully make it so far? With all the creatures roaming around?”

Riley smirked slyly.

“Why don’t you ask Virgil?” she said sarcastically. “Sometimes things turn out to be not like we expect them to be, don’t you agree?”

“Yes, but…” the scientist didn’t know what to say about this. “It looks like he protects you. But why?”

It all was so unexpected, so extraordinary. He still couldn’t comprehend how it all could happen. One of the most dangerous SCP creatures and a blind test subject… It just seemed impossible, and yet that was exactly what has happened. He now set his eyes on Virgil, who, to his utter surprise, could talk; but his talking was slower than the average human speech. Neither of the test subjects sent to the stairwell before had ever reported any sounds coming from Virgil. But now all the mysteries were becoming facts.

The plague doctor kept silent for now, watching the entire scene with curiosity and interest. Human psyche and behavior sure made an interesting area for studies.

“I knew I was going to spare this female’s life in the first moment she began talking to me,” Virgil spoke in his profound voice that sounded demonic in Dr. Webster’s mind. “I do not know how things would have turned out to be if she had the ability to see, but all has come out to be better for us both. She was the first human who talked to me without fear. Whether you believe it or not, creatures like me know what the feeling of curiosity means; and I have always been curious about you humans. And Riley…” he turned his face to her. “She opened a whole new world to me. Thanks to her, I found out so many interesting things about humans, but there is still much more to know, much to learn. And I allowed her to know me, to feel my touch; and I felt the touch of her hands on mine. This was the first time I ever felt anything or anybody touch me. Now she has become a most valuable thing for me, and I will not let anything happen to her. Wherever she goes, I go; and wherever I go, she comes with me.”

“I will always be with you, Virgil,” Riley whispered loud enough for her companion to hear. She was deeply touched by what he said. “And do you know what the most valuable thing for me is in my whole life? You are. Nothing else but you.”

Just as it was with her, Virgil was touched by her words to the depths of his core. She could hear him growling in her mind, and nothing but affection could be heard in this single growl of his. Dr. Webster was completely astonished by Virgil’s monologue and Riley’s barely audible reply to it. She whispered, but he could hear it nonetheless. He never thought that the experiment they conducted in the endless stairwell would end up in such result between the test subject and an SCP object that could be characterized as true respect and friendship. For the plague doctor it was problematic to understand as well, but his reasons for that were different. He had never known what friendship actually was about and that it even existed; but judging by the scene before him, it caused no harm at all.

On the contrary, it made living things feel better; even those that were clearly inhuman.

“Let’s face the truth, doc,” Riley suddenly spoke loudly, looking in the direction where Dr. Webster was supposed to be. “You sent me to that stairwell to meet my demise.”

Dr. Webster shook his head.

“Did I ever say so?” he asked in a bit surprised and a bit irritated voice. “We were conducting an experiment with a purpose to see how deep the stairwell is and Virgil’s interaction with people. No one had any intention to kill you this way.”

“Of course you didn’t say. Why would you anyway?” she continued, her voice expressing challenge. “If you did, I doubt the test subjects would agree to go there. But what I don’t doubt is that if they refused, they would be forced down there with a weapon, thanks to the security guards. By the way, you also never mentioned that there were three people sent before me. Virgil told me about it. But it would change nothing. It’s always convenient to keep quiet about certain things and not to let the lab rats know what awaits them. Thus it would be much easier to manipulate them into most dangerous acts that could very well result in their death.”

Dr. Webster was obviously stunned by what she was saying, and Riley knew it; even being unable to see his face expression, she perfectly felt it.

“Lucky no one suffered a terrible fate during your experiment,” she continued. “But I bet all three of them now have a severe mental trauma. That is, if they are alive, although I doubt it. I already know what some creatures are capable of as we’ve encountered some on our way. But there is no bad without good, isn’t it?” she almost giggled which would look really weird, considering the situation they were in. “In all the bad there is one huge good, and that is Virgil. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have survived even for five minutes in this monster-infested hellhole. And I tell you one thing: I’m not going to die here. Virgil and I are on our way out of here, and we will stop at nothing to reach our goal and finally be free.”

As she finished her monologue, the scientist’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets from astonishment. If any of the SCP monsters got out, it would possess a serious threat to the outer world.

No, it’s impossible. No monster could be allowed to leave the facility.

“Miss Olson, do you even listen to yourself?!” Dr. Webster began raising his voice. “You cannot be serious about letting Virgil out of here? Do you even know what he’s capable of? Do you know what disaster it can bring into the world?”

Virgil listened silently to their tensed dialogue, and if he could smirk or laugh, he would have done it now.

_Disaster._

What does this pathetic human know about him and his abilities? Does he really think that being a scientist makes him a know-it-all? This doctor knows nothing. All the information he got was from what the previous test subjects reported to him. He or any guard with their weapons never dared to make a step into the stairwell and meet the monster face-to-face, preferring to send the innocent and helpless test subjects instead.

They all were miserable cowards; and Virgil knew it.

“Oh, believe me, doctor, I know perfectly well what Virgil is capable of,” Riley fired back. “Let me ask you a question: how much do you actually know about him? Have you ever dared to go into that stairwell? I bet you didn’t, not even with a guard. That can be said about all the scientists. I don’t believe you found out much from the test subjects as they quickly ran away in fear as soon as they saw Virgil. And I dare to say that I know much more about him that all of you scientists do.”

She smirked, knowing that her words hit the weak spot. If she was able to see, she wouldn’t miss the fact that Dr. Webster’s face has grown pale like death.

“Virgil doesn’t attack anything that moves. If not provoked, he will do no harm without any particular reason,” she continued with firm confidence. “And I proudly announce that Virgil is no threat to the world. But dare you provoke him, and then you will learn the true meaning of a threat.”

Dr. Webster watched the blind girl with the expression of utter shock on his face. She has grown too brave for her state; but that was no wonder, considering that one of the most perilous SCP creatures was on her side. But before he could reply, the plague doctor had finally decided to join in.

“Well, I’m afraid I have to interrupt this conversation,” his mechanical voice resonated in the hallways. Riley still could feel shivers run down her spine from its timbre. “But I must confess that it was very interesting to listen. The area of human behavior and psychology provides so many possibilities for scientific studies. But let’s leave it all for later, shall we?”

Saying this, he turned his masked face to Dr. Webster, the piercing glance of his blue eyes almost looking through the man’s body.

“W-What are you up to?” the scientist’s voice shook, and Riley sure didn’t miss it.

“What’s the matter, doctor?” she asked gently, but the tenderness in her voice was simulated. “Judging by your voice, you are very afraid.”

And it was the truth; he had to agree with her. Even having an automatic rifle in his hands didn’t save him from the overwhelming terror.

“Ah! A doctor! A like-minded individual, no doubt,” the cloaked creature said with enthusiasm. “What’s your specialty, sir?”

Dr. Webster swallowed nervously.

“It’s microbiology. Why?”

“A medical man, just like myself. How marvelous!” he laughed. “So why don’t you show me your laboratory? I have to make sure it’s clean and has no trace of Pestilence in it.”

With that he began walking towards the scientist. Dr. Webster then stepped backwards, aiming the rifle at the cloaked creature.

“I assure you there is no sign of Pestilence there,” he spoke, his voice still shaking. “Please stand back.”

That didn’t seem to convince the plague doctor though.

“There’s no need to be afraid, doctor,” he spoke, not stopping for a second. “I’m here to help.”

As the cloaked creature continued walking towards Dr. Webster, Riley whispered to Virgil quietly so only he could hear her:

“We need to move.”

Virgil nodded and held her close to himself. He was preparing to do another fast movement trick like the one he used when escaping from the SCP-173. Riley only managed to blink when they already were upstairs by the closed door. Virgil studied the surroundings and noticed a small round object on the wall right by the door.

“Where are we now, Virgil?” Riley asked him. “What do you see?”

“I see a closed door and something round near it,” he replied. “We must get through.”

“Yes, and I think I know how,” she said, approaching the door and pushing the button near it. As expected, the door slid open instantly, opening the view of something that looked like reception. And as they made it through the doorway, the loud noise of gun shooting broke the silence followed by a man screaming somewhere downstairs. But among these noises a familiar mechanical voice could be clearly heard talking again.

“Ah, no good, no good. Your weapon will not help you in any way, doctor. And it’s not polite to show aggression towards someone who only wants to help.”

Hearing this, Riley quickly pressed the button again, and the door shut behind them. The sounds of gunshots and screams were heard for a minute or two, and then everything went silent. Realizing what had happened, she sighed.

Dr. Webster was lucky to survive the encounter with the Old Man, but now the fate wasn’t so merciful. The plague doctor finally got his hands on him, and this time there was no lucky chance of escape. Even the automatic rifle proved itself to be useless against the plague doctor.

She could hear him walking towards Dr. Webster confidently and relentlessly like an executioner.

Like death itself.

Now Riley only hoped that the plague doctor hasn’t decided to follow them. Virgil made it clear though that he wouldn’t allow anything happen to her and would protect her at all costs, so perhaps the plague doctor was smart enough not to try to get to her. One thing she knew for sure: that creature might very well be a threat to the world if it got out.

She hoped that the plague doctor had no idea that the exit was located here. But if he knew, he would have already tried to get out of the facility. He hasn’t done it so far, so he most likely didn’t know about this room.

Now all they had to do was to find the lever and open the door that leads outside.

They were closer to freedom than ever.


	13. Chapter 13

The room they were in now was quiet, no signs of anyone’s presence. Now all they had to do was to find out where exactly they were and where to find the lever to open the exit.

“Where are we now, Virgil? Could you please tell me what you see?” Riley kindly asked him to describe the surroundings.

Virgil looked around, studying the room.

“Not much I can see here,” the monster replied. “It is just a large metal door in front and some big solid object on the left that is not connected to the wall. There is something white lying on it.” He picked it up and studied with his glance. “What is this?”

“Judging by the sound, you picked up a piece of paper,” Riley told him. “Can you give it to me to make sure?”

Virgil handed it to her, and just by a single touch she understood what exactly it was.

“Yes, just as I thought. It is a piece of paper,” she stated simply.

“And what is paper? What is it for?” Virgil asked, earning a smile from his companion. His curiosity knew no boundaries and sure he had lots of questions.

“Well, how to explain…” Riley said thoughtfully and scratched her chin. “Paper is actually important for humans around the world. They use it for many purposes, and one of them is writing.” Her head didn’t move, but her hand lay on what appeared to be a desk and touched a small, thin object that was the pen. “Look, this is a pen, and it is used for writing on the paper.” Riley lifted the pen in front of her face for Virgil to see and then began writing something, not even moving her head a lot. Only her hand did the work, and she spelled out a word ‘Hello’ as an example. She had learnt to write in her childhood and understood that you don’t even need eyes to write.

Virgil watched her with deep interest.

“Alright, I understand now what it is for,” he said. “This is all so strange and at the same time interesting. You humans are full of extraordinary things.”

Riley giggled at this. Despite being a monster, Virgil sometimes seemed really cute to her with all his curiosity.

“Yeah, sure…” she said. “I could tell you more, but now we have more important things to worry about. It looks like we have reached the reception. That’s where the lever had to be hidden. Search thoroughly, Virgil. It might not be in such an obvious place. We have to look properly as it might be anywhere.”

Riley knew it would be a problem for her to look for the lever, even with her echolocation ability. The desired object could be very well hidden somewhere in a place where the naked eye cannot spot it. Now she had all her hope in Virgil, like never before. Only his vision and flair could detect the thing they were looking for. Otherwise it would have taken a very long time.

Virgil scanned the room with his glance, but there was nothing around that could resemble a lever. Then it had to be well hidden somewhere, maybe inside the walls on the floor. Considering the top secrecy of this facility, it would be only logical. Nothing could be done that easy. It was the perfect time to use one of his hidden abilities that stayed dormant for years; and that was when his eyes were able to scan through the thick and solid objects, even walls and floors.

Riley just stood there, wondering what her companion was up to.

“Virgil?” she spoke gently to him. “What are you doing now?”

“I am looking through the walls,” his profound voice answered casually. Riley tilted her head, making sure she heard it right.

“You… what?”

“I have not told you yet, but this is one of the abilities I have not used for a very long time,” the monster spoke. “It enables me to see through any object around, even walls and ground.”

“Wow, incredible!” Riley exclaimed but tried to keep her voice down. Attracting unwanted attention was the last thing she wanted. “So can you locate the lever somewhere?”

“I am trying,” Virgil said, moving around the room. So far he couldn’t find anything in the walls.

Then suddenly it dawned on Riley.

“Virgil, wait a moment,” she said, attracting his attention instantly. “Do you remember what Dr. Webster and the guard were talking about while we followed them? They said that the lever is hidden somewhere beneath the desk in the reception. So come here and search around the desk specifically. It has to be here.”

The monster approached the desk at the left wall and began his search there. As the lever was supposed to be hidden beneath the desk, so he concentrated his glance on the floor. And there it was, right in the middle spot where the desk stood, under one of the plates.

“I can see it,” Virgil finally said. “It is hidden under this large object.”

“It’s called a desk,” Riley explained. “Then we have to move it. Come on, I could use your help a bit.”

Putting her cane on the desk, she was ready to push it, but no strength was required of her. Virgil moved the desk in a mere second. Well, even better. Riley walked to the place where the desk just was and crouched, trying to find the right spot with light knocking on every plate. It didn’t take long to find it as when she knocked on the one that was in the very middle, the sound was different.

“This is the one,” she stated. “I can hear the difference. This plate is hollow. We must open it somehow.”

“Let me do it,” Virgil said, moving to the spot where Riley’s hand just was. She stood up and stepped away then, allowing the monster to do what he intended. Virgil’s slender hand then clenched into a fist, and in the next second it rammed into the fake plate, shattering it to tiny pieces.

“Jesus Christ, Virgil! That was loud!” she exclaimed, looking around nervously.

“Do you have any other suggestions on how to open this thing?” Virgil asked back.

“Well, no, but…” Riley shook her head in confusion. “But I’m afraid that loud noise can attract unwanted attention. Don’t forget that the plague doctor is still not far. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want that guy to come here.”

“And he will not come,” Virgil stated as a matter of fact. Riley looked in his direction, her face expressing confusion.

“How can you know that?”

“Because he will not go where I go,” he said. “So do not be afraid. He will not dare to approach you… not while I am near.”

The blind woman’s mouth stretched in a satisfied smile.

“Good,” she said, crouching to the niche with the lever and putting her hand on it. “Well, here goes nothing.”

Riley pressed the lever, her heart beating frantically in her chest and her breath held in anticipation. She really hoped it was really the device for opening the exit from the facility, and to her big joy, the heavy metal door in front of them buzzed open. But before proceeding she retrieved her cane and began moving the desk again.

“Please help me to move it back,” she said to Virgil. “It would be better if everything remains as it was before we got here so no one would understand too soon that we’ve been here.”

Virgil helped her to move the desk back where it belonged and took her hand to lead her forward. He saw no light behind the door, at least not yet.

“I wonder how close to the exit we are,” Riley mused loudly. “What is behind the door?”

“I see more stairs,” Virgil replied.

Riley shook her head in frustration.

“Oh, for the love of God! How many stairs do we have to ascend? I really hope it’s the last set of stairs.”

With that they began walking up. Riley touched the wall with her left hand as they went, and it felt like rock to the touch.

“These walls are made of stone,” she said more to herself than to her companion. “Then it really must be the last ascend before we make it out.”

“There is another door at the end of the stairs and a lever on the left wall,” Virgil described what he saw in front of them. Riley then began touching the entire wall as far as she could reach until one of her hands finally found the mentioned lever. She pressed it and the door opened with loud hiss. Riley and her monstrous friend went through the doorway, and as soon as they passed it, the smell of fresh air filled Riley’s nostrils. And in the next second the hissing sound behind their backs let them understand that the door had slammed shut; and the code panel on the right meant that there was no way to open it without the right number combination.

They were finally outside, and there was no way back.


	14. Chapter 14

“Ah, how nice it is to feel fresh air again!” Riley exclaimed, taking a deep breath. She had no idea how long she had been kept in the facility. She never knew whether it was day or night outside and perfectly understood how moles lived underground. “I can’t believe we made it out. I’m out of words to describe how happy I am to breathe the fresh air instead of that facility stench.”

Virgil was silent for several moments and looked around, studying the surroundings. They were now in a place with much light, and he could see something bright blue in the distance above the facility. He wanted to know what it is, but now it wasn’t a good time for asking questions.

They had to get as far from the facility as possible.

“But we are not yet out of the facility,” the monster said. “I can still see white walls around us and… there is also a large and long grey thing with a white stripe in the middle. It leads somewhere down and its other end goes to something that looks to me like two big doors shut together.”

Riley mused for a moment about what he said and then she realized what he meant.

“The large grey thing you see is called ‘road’,” she explained. “You can see roads all around the world. People built them to travel to different locations. And those two doors sealed together are the gates. I guess it’s the main entrance to the territory of the facility. And I bet it’s guarded very well. If all guards inside the facility are dead, those who are outside are still alive and well. We have to find a way to get past them.”

“And if it gets bad, I will have to eliminate them,” Virgil said casually like killing people is no big deal. “They are a threat to us, and every threat must be removed.”

Riley sighed. No matter how friendly Virgil was to her, he was still a monster that could kill a human being without problems. But she had to admit that in this situation he was right.

“Yeah, sure… if it has to be done, so be it,” she said and nodded. If they intended to get out of here, they would have to do anything to achieve the desired goal.

Taking Riley’s hand, Virgil moved along the sidewalk. He could see one of the guards standing somewhere high up and watching the territory. Lucky for them, he had his back turned to the inner territory, so the monster and the blind woman could slip into the nearby doorway easily and quickly. Scanning the room with his glance, Virgil saw lots of strange devices, and the purpose of them was completely unknown to him. Those were, in fact, computers and lots of constructions with hundreds of buttons on them and as many flickering lights. And then there were several metal things with doors standing in a row by the right wall. Virgil approached to take a better look and tried one of the doors.

It was open.

That’s when an idea flashed in his mind.

“Come here,” he said. Riley slowly went to him, her face expressing thoughtfulness.

“What are you doing?” she asked and extended one of her hands to touch what was before her. “Oh, it feels like a locker. There seem to be many of them here. But what do you want to do with them?”

“I want you to step into one of them and wait,” Virgil replied. The blind woman then turned to him in surprise.

“What? Why do I have to do that?”

“There is no way we can go through unnoticed,” the monster explained. “I must remove the guards. And then I will come back for you.”

“But they are all armed! How are you going to deal with them?” she asked. Now Riley really felt concerned about her only friend. The last thing she wanted was to lose him.

“Do not be afraid. Their weapons can do me no harm,” the monster said, clutching her wrist. “Now let me show you something.”

Riley tilted her head, wondering what he meant. And in that very second she realized she couldn’t feel his hand on her skin. She still felt his coldness but was unable to feel his touch.

“Virgil? Are you still here?” Riley asked in a bit scared voice.

“I am here,” he replied. “Now just walk forward.”

Riley obeyed and began slowly moving forward. That’s when she felt coldness enveloping her whole body but only for a brief moment. After that it became warm like before.

“What just happened?” she asked in confusion. “I felt cold for a moment.”

“Yes, it is because you have just walked through me,” Virgil said as a matter-of-factly. That’s when the woman’s head turned to him abruptly.

“What did you say? I… walked through you? But how?”

“You have just witnessed another ability of mine that you did not know about,” he explained. “I can become translucent, and any object can go through me; even if it is a living being like human.”

Riley covered her mouth in astonishment. Virgil once told her that her kind was full of surprises, but now she could tell exactly the same about him.

“Wow… just wow…” it was all she could mutter at the moment. “You are a truly extraordinary being, Virgil. You have now become like a supernatural being that people call ‘a ghost’.”

Virgil looked at her in silence. The word ‘ghost’ was something new for him again.

“Well, if this is how you call it, then yes, I became like a ghost,” he stated. “So now you understand that human weapons can do no harm to me at all. Even if I did not become translucent, they would still be unable to harm me in any way. The scientist that was with us in the hallways, he could do nothing with his weapon against the… what was it again? The plague doctor, right?”

Riley just nodded in response.

“Well, you heard that his weapon did no harm to the plague doctor. And if he cannot be harmed, then human weapons are absolutely powerless against me; even if I am not translucent. But so it will be even better if I go against the guards.”

“But can you still harm anybody while being translucent?” Riley asked with curiosity.

“No, I cannot,” Virgil admitted. “To do any harm, I must become material again.”

This is when Riley felt his thin fingers on her wrist.

“You have just felt that it takes me less than a second to switch between being translucent or material. Humans will not even manage to realize what is happening when they will be in my power.” He took Riley by her hand then and led her back to the open locker. “Now step inside and wait for me. No matter what you hear, do not make a sound. I will be back for you when I am done with the guards.”

“Of course, Virgil. I’ll do as you say. I know I trust you no matter what.”

Riley smiled and obediently stepped into the locker. Making sure that she was fully inside with her cane, Virgil shut the locker. He couldn’t risk his only friend to be spotted by those pathetic humans that guard the facility. He already knew that they would shoot anything that moves, even if it is another human being. He would try to finish them all as quickly as possible as his only wish was to get out of here with Riley and make this place a distant memory.

With that the monster of the endless stairwell switched to the translucent mode and moved forward.

He was ready to kill.


	15. Chapter 15

Two of the remaining guardian group stood high, almost on the top of the northern wall, looking into nowhere and scanning the area inside the complex now and then. It was unlikely though that something could have moved to the facility from the outside, so one of them dedicated most of his attention to the inside. There were relatively few guards left anymore, considering the fact that most of them died inside the facility when the containment breach took place. But so it happened that while he was facing the outside border of the facility, a blind woman and an unknown creature slid past them without any sound. No one saw or heard anything so the guard felt relatively peaceful. Sure they heard about what occurred inside the facility, but as long as no creature managed to get out, there was nothing to worry about.

Their peace wasn’t long though. One of the guards that patrolled the inside of the building realized that he wasn’t actually alone.

Something was rustling somewhere on the left.

“Who’s there?” he asked but no answer came. “Dave, is that you? Stop messing around!”

Still he got nothing but silence in response.

This was becoming suspicious. Checking whether his rifle was loaded, the guard slowly began moving towards the source of the sound, holding his weapon ready. It was difficult to tell where exactly the sound came from, but at least he knew the direction. As he passed a few doors quietly, he didn’t notice that one of them was slightly ajar with black darkness inside that room. And as the guard walked, he never heard the door opening and a specter-like creature sliding out of the dark without any noise. All he felt was sudden coldness around him; but before the guard managed to realize anything, he saw several thin and pale appendages wrap around his head. Despite having a helmet covering his entire face and head, the guard could very well feel the icy coldness piercing through the protective material. And the next second sharp pain went through the man’s neck when it twisted around with a cracking sound. Everything literally swam before his eyes, his glance becoming foggy; and then there was darkness. That’s when his limp body fell on the floor.

The man died instantly.

Letting the dead guard fall on the ground, Virgil grabbed one of his legs and dragged the lifeless body into the dark room. He knew it was better for other guards not to see their dead comrades, otherwise there would be panic. He knew that removing them one by one was a much better idea. He was done with the first guard, and there were still five of them left. Virgil knew it from the moment he and Riley walked past the watching guards. He felt the presence of six men.

Switching to the translucent state, Virgil slid out of the dark room and moved forward. He wished to be done with the guards as fast as possible and finally get out of this damned place. It didn’t take long for him to tell that another guard was nearby; he could feel presence of a man at a long distance. And this guy seemed to move towards the place where his comrade just died. It looked like he heard the man calling out his name, thinking that it was his colleague. So this man had to be the one called Dave.

“Hey, Joe, was that you I heard?” he called out to his now already dead comrade. “What’s going on?”

Silence was all he got. Dave went faster to the location he heard his colleague’s voice last time, but instead of him he felt something strange.

It was terribly cold in this particular spot, like if this place almost turned into a freezing chamber.

Despite the sudden coldness, Dave moved forward, determined to find his colleague. But in the next moment he froze in his spot, and definitely not because of coldness.

As he passed a dark hallway on the left, he heard something shift there. It seemed like a gush of wind blew at him. Dave tensed and held his rifle before him, not forgetting to activate a tactical flashlight that his weapon had. But what he saw made his blood turn as cold as the air was around him.

In the ray of light he saw a fairly discernible figure with unnatural proportions. It was translucent but the features could still be a little bit seen. Dave shook his head to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. The figure was still there, looking directly at him, so now the guard was sure he was sober. What was it then? A ghost? Since when was the facility haunted? Plenty of weird thoughts appeared in Dave’s mind at this moment. He knew that there were many creatures kept here that could be considered supernatural in a way, but the ghosts? No, it was illogical. They could have been keeping anything here but ghosts.

Nonetheless, the figure looked exactly like some kind of a weird specter. Dave didn’t know what to do. Shooting at it was useless as the bullets would definitely go through this being, and that would be a waste. And then the sudden changes didn’t make him wait long as the translucent creature before him literally materialized into a greyish slender being with long limbs and deadly pale face that had empty eyes without irises or pupils. Now it didn’t look like a ghost anymore but a monster that could make himself translucent at wish.

That’s when it dawned on the guard.

One of the SCP creatures has managed to get out.

“Oh shit!” Dave swore, his trembling finger pressing the trigger. Deafening shots echoed in the empty hallways, but not before the nightmarish creature moved towards the frightened guard like a flash of lightning. Despite having thin limbs, the monster was incredibly strong. He lifted the man’s body up, his long fingers holding the arms steady; and the next second his painful screams mixed up with nasty sound of bones breaking. It continued this way for some time until the body of a guard resembled a rag doll and he let out his final breath.

His agony was over.

Virgil dragged the man’s body away into the dark where it wouldn’t be discovered by the rest of the guards, at least not that soon. This one managed to make a few shots though that did zero harm to the monster; and these sound combines with the screams sure provided a lot of noise. And that meant that the others couldn’t have missed it.

There were four more to go.

***

“Did you hear that?” one of the guards on duty asked.

“Yes, Kirk, I did,” the other one replied. “Was that Dave or Joe?”

“I don’t know, man,” Kirk said with suspicion in his voice. “I think we better…”

“Hey, you guys, what happened?” two more guards appeared from the right. “I can swear we heard gunshots.”

“We’re not sure, but there’s something strange going on,” Kirk explained. “Steve and I think we’d better check it out. You two stay here while we investigate. Stay alert and let us know if you see anything suspicious.”

The two guards nodded and Kirk left the post with Steve. They walked fast to the direction where they thought they heard the gunshots. It seemed that the noise came from the direction of the hallways, so the two men went there. But nothing was found there, no signs of their colleagues. The only thing they found was a rifle lying on the floor.

“What the hell?” Kirk swore. “Which one of them dropped the weapon?”

“No idea,” Steve said in confusion. “Where are they?”

“Dave! Joe! Are you there?” Kirk shouted out, hoping that his comrades would hear him. “If you can hear me, please respond!”

Nothing. The response was nothing but dead silence. Kirk tried to reach them through the walkie-talkie, but even that proved to be useless. Dave and Joe just vanished in the thin air.

“Where the hell did they go?!” Steve was already getting nervous.

“I wish I could tell you,” Kirk said, not knowing what else to say. Steve swallowed, feeling his insides trembling. He was far from being a coward, but in this situation something scared him. “Ugh, it’s getting cold here, by the way. Do you feel it?”

“Yeah, almost freezing,” Kirk agreed. “I think we should get going. Maybe we can… Oh no, Steve, Behind you!”

Steve didn’t have time to ask what was wrong when suddenly sharp pain went through his torso when something literally pierced through his stomach. The man looked down, and to his horror, he saw a pale and thin hand with long fingers sticking out from his belly; the hand was all covered in blood. Then it was pulled out as rapidly as it went through the body, and in a matter of seconds the lifeless body of the guard collapsed on the ground.

“Shit…” Kirk whispered, barely able to move his tongue from what he just saw. His friend and comrade was just brutally murdered before his eyes, but even more horrified he felt when he saw the killer.

He had never seen a creature like that. All he knew that it was one of the monsters that was kept inside the facility and somehow got out.

And now it was determined to extinguish another life.

Virgil had to act quickly. This human also had a weapon in his hands, but it wasn’t going to save him in any way. The flexible hands of the monster stretched and undulated like two serpents, ready to kill the prey. Kirk had no time to even react when the creature’s hands wrapped around his neck and lifted him up, making the man drop his rifle. But this time Virgil wasn’t going to break the bones. He wanted to use some other killing tactics and thus to be a bit creative. Despite his slender physique, the monster was much stronger than an average human. His fingers began pressing on the guard’s neck, squeezing it and disabling the flow of oxygen into his lungs. Kirk writhed and kicked, trying to free himself from the monster’s grip, but all his miserable attempts appeared to be futile. Virgil continued pressing on the man’s neck until his victim finally stopped resisting and his body went limp. And as soon as the monster couldn’t feel the man’s heartbeat anymore, he dropped the body on the ground and dragged it away into the dark.

This time the guard didn’t manage to shoot at the monster and thus made no noise at all. Virgil acted so fast that people have little to no time to realize what’s going on. This ability served him very well in eliminating the threat, and he was determined to finish the job.

Meanwhile the two remaining guards were at their post, waiting for their colleagues to return. There was still no sign of anything out of order, at least inside the territory of the facility. The weather outside was pretty nice, warm air made them feel relaxed. Everything looked so peaceful and serene, but deep inside both men knew that nothing can be truly peaceful or serene inside this facility. There were dangerous and hostile creatures kept in it, but as long as they stayed locked inside the facility, all felt relatively safe.

“Hey, Chris,” one guard suddenly spoke. “They’re away for a while already. What’s talking them so long?”

“I was thinking about it too,” the man named Chris pondered aloud. “Listen, Gabe, maybe we should go and look for them?”

Gabe shook his head.

“I don’t know… Who will stay on this post then if we leave now?”

“You’re right on the one hand, but look… We’ve been standing in this area for God knows how long,” Chris said thoughtfully. “And yet nothing has happened that could be considered dangerous. No creatures have been roaming around here and no one has tried to approach the facility from the outside. Kinda boring, don’t you agree? Besides, Dave and Joe have been shooting at something. You heard the shots too, right?”

Gabe nodded.

“So yeah, and Kirk and Steve still haven’t returned,” Chris stated as a matter-of-factly. “So I suggest we better go and see what’s wrong and try to solve the problem if there is one.”

“Okay, off we go then,” Gabe finally agreed. “I just hope that… Wait a second… What is that?”

“Where?” Chris asked and saw that Gabe was looking somewhere behind his back. He turned around and noticed something weird in the doorway. He could clearly see a transparent humanoid figure that was slowly moving towards them. The closer the strange specter approached, the colder the air grew despite the warm weather. Chris and Gabe both shook their heads simultaneously to make sure they weren’t hallucinating, but the figure was still there and approaching. Both guards raised their weapons but knew that shooting at it would be useless as the bullets would go through it. Both men weren’t cowards, but this thing made cold sweat run down their temples.

It was some kind of a ghost, or so they thought.

Their doubts dissolved soon enough as the transparent figure morphed into a creature neither of them had ever seen. The sight of a greyish slender body with long limbs combined with a pale face and empty eyeballs would make any person freeze from terror. Both guards then understood what was going on.

“It’s one of the SCPs!” Gabe shouted out. “How the hell did it get out?!”

“No time to discuss! Shoot it!” Chris yelled back and opened fire. Gabe began shooting at the monster, but to the terror and disappointment of both men, their weapons didn’t harm the approaching creature in any way.

“Shit! What the hell, man?! Is it invincible or what?!” Gabe was now really afraid. If the weapons did nothing to the monster, then the only way to survive was running.

“Run, Gabe! Run!” Chris turned around and pushed his comrade forward. Gabe managed to run away to a more or less safe distance from Virgil, but Chris wasn’t so lucky. As he began running, he felt like if wind blew at him for a moment and then stopped, but that was no wind. In the exact second the creature was behind his back and grabbed the man, lifting him up with both hands; but this time Virgil held the guard in a horizontal position. Gabe watched in horror how the monster brought his comrade to the edge of the thick wall where their post was and threw him down with all his might. Chris crashed into the asphalted road at the gates and broke his neck instantly from the strong impact. And as he made sure that the guard was dead, Virgil turned his face to Gabe, the last remaining guard.

Seeing the creature’s face turning to him, Gabe resumed running, feeling his pursuer’s deadly glance on him. The frightened man was consumed by panic as he ran wherever his eyes were looking. He felt blows of wind behind him from time to time, even when he was inside. And as he looked back to see where the monster was, the gush of wind touched him again; but this time Gabe understood that it was no win at all. Every time he felt it, the monster got closer to him in one rapid movement.

That’s when Gabe realized what exactly it meant. This creature, whatever it was, possessed some sort of teleportation ability.

The guard didn’t stop running, although he felt air gradually leaving him and his lungs beginning to burn from the lack of oxygen in them. Nonetheless, he knew that if he slowed down even for a bit, it would be the death of him. If he could maybe hide somewhere, there would be a slim chance to survive.

But fate could be very cruel. Everyone knew it.

Gabe felt his body finally beginning to betray him – he was getting tired from so much running. And as he slowed down, he felt coldness around him grow stronger with every second. He knew what it meant, so the guard just pressed himself to the wall and lowered himself to the ground with his eyes shut and ready to die. He just hoped it would be quick.

Virgil caught up with his prey in a matter of seconds, and now he watched the man stop at the left wall and slide down to the ground. That’s when he learned a new fact about humans: their stamina wasn’t endless. They could run for some amount of time and then their strength starts leaving them. So humans weren’t as strong as he thought, and that’s why they required their weapons for defense. But their lack of stamina served well for Virgil during the chase and made it easier for him to capture his prey. And now it looked like the man gave up and waited for death to come. So Virgil wasn’t going to waste time. He decided to eliminate the guard quickly, just like he did with the man named Steve. Wrapping one of his hands around the man’s neck, he lifted him up so that the man’s feet couldn’t touch the ground. Gabe wasn’t even trying to resist; he just wanted it to be over as soon as possible. When the pain pierced his body, he almost welcomed it. Looking down, he saw the monster’s arm stuck in his stomach and how it went through the torso to the other side. The creature has literally punched a hole in his body; and just as it happened, Gabe felt the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. He began coughing, spitting some amount of blood out and felt all the strength leaving him once and for all until everything went black.

Death has finally come for him.

Virgil felt the man’s heartbeat slow down until it stopped completely which indicated that he was dead. He dropped the corpse on the ground, feeling satisfied with his job, and then turned to the doorway he came through minutes before.

His mission here was complete. Now it was time to go back for Riley.


	16. Epilogue

Riley heard gunshots and screams of men and assumed that Virgil got to them, maybe even before some of them understood what was going on. She felt heartache from the thoughts about her only friend brutally murdering people, but in this case it had to be done. The guards sure wouldn’t allow them to leave the facility, especially if it was one of the SCP creatures. Besides, there was no guarantee that they would even allow her to leave this place as she knew too much about their business. But now everything was silent, no signs of life anywhere around. Still she took no risk and stayed inside the locker until Virgil returned for her. Only then she would be sure that it was safe to leave her hiding spot.

She had no idea how much time has passed since her friend left her there. Being blind, she never knew what time it was and when exactly day changed to night and vice versa. She could know it only from the words of people who surrounded her before she got locked up in the SCP facility. Now it seemed that the time was lingering and wished for her monstrous companion to be back as soon as possible.

And then her wish was finally granted. Riley felt sudden coldness touching the skin of her face and arms, even being inside the locker. It could only mean that Virgil was back.

And as a proof, she heard the locker door open.

“Virgil?” she asked, just to be sure it was really him.

“It is me,” he replied. “I am back. You can come out now.”

“Are you done with the guards?”

“Yes, there are no more humans around,” Virgil confirmed. Riley’s face expressed thoughtfulness.

“And are you sure there are no more?” she asked him. “How many did you kill?”

“Six,” the monster replied. “And you can be sure that there are no more of them. I felt the presence of six humans right after we opened the door and got out.”

“Hmm, okay,” she said. “So let’s go then. The sooner we leave this damned place, the better.”

Virgil already knew what to do. While chasing his last victim, he had an opportunity to explore the surroundings; and unfortunately, he found no door that could serve as exit. All the doors were locked without a way to open them. And before he returned to his blind friend, he already had an idea of escaping the facility for good.

The monster led Riley upstairs, the same way he moved before with the intention to remove the guards from his way. His goal was the balcony, the post where the guards were watching the territory both from the inside and outside. The gates were firmly locked so there was only one thing left to do.

“Where are we now?” Riley asked, taking a deep breath. They were outside again, so much she understood. It was nice to feel the air again, but there was still a mission to complete. The blind woman then tried to feel the surroundings with her hands. “Hmm, this seems to be some kind of balcony, so we must be somewhere high up. Where is this exactly?”

“This is where the human guards were when we got outside,” Virgil explained. “Not all of them were there, but some were standing and watching. We are now above those large doors closed together.”

“Ah, you mean the gates,” Riley said, nodding. “But they are sealed shut. What are we going to do now?”

“There is only one thing we can do,” the monster said, making Riley turn her head to him. She pondered for a moment about what he said; but when it finally dawned on her, she widened her eyes more from surprise than actual fear.

“Are you serious? So you’re implying that we have to jump?”

“Precisely,” Virgil confirmed her guess. “I found no other way out of here, so we have to jump.”

“How high is it?” she asked. Being unable to see, she couldn’t tell how high the wall was.

“It is rather high,” the monster replied. He had no idea how to measure the height, so he could only tell what he saw.

Riley then swallowed nervously.

“I don’t know, Virgil…” she mumbled in confusion. “If it is rather high then I might end up killing myself from the impact; and if I survive the fall, then broken bones are guaranteed.”

Virgil knew it. During all their travel through the facility he learnt that humans were rather fragile beings and that very strong impact with any hard surface might kill them. He already thought of a solution before saying his idea out loud to Riley.

“You will not have to jump yourself,” he said. Riley scratched her head, trying to understand what he meant with that; but very soon she got her answer. Suddenly she felt his arms grabbing her and lifting her up. It was so unexpected that Riley almost dropped her cane from surprise. Virgil took her in his arms, making her blush slight. Nobody ever held her like that; and now, being in a monster’s arms, she felt happy and a bit awkward at the same time. She remembered reading some stories and fairy tales in her childhood about princesses being held like this by their beloved princes; and now she was feeling approximately the same. But the one holding her was no prince from a fairy tale. It was a monster, but the one that valued her more than anything.

So she made a conclusion that it was basically the same.

“Now hold on to my neck firmly,” Virgil instructed her. Riley obeyed, pressing the cane tight between her legs and wrapping her arms around the monster’s neck. The next thing she felt was strong gush of wind surrounding her from all sides that lasted for mere few seconds. It stopped as abruptly as it started, and now all she felt was Virgil’s skin and coldness.

“There we go. Now we are out of that place,” she heard the monster’s deep voice again. That’s when she felt her feet touch the ground. “This time nothing can get in our way.”

Riley finally allowed herself a wide smile. Could they really have luck this much?

“God, I can’t believe we made it.” She let out a relaxed sigh. “Are we really out of that damned facility?”

“Yes, we are,” Virgil said. “We are now beyond its walls, but now from the outer side.”

“Nice. Now I suggest that we move. For now we have to get away from the facility as far as possible.”

“So where shall we go now?” the monster asked. All he could see was open world and so many possibilities, so many ways to go. Now he was deeply confused.

It was the first time he saw the world beyond the walls of SCP complex, and to him it looked marvelous. There was a relatively open space around the facility, but then it ended up in something green. Virgil and Riley then walked forward until they reached something was totally unknown to Virgil.

“What is this?” he mused aloud. “Where exactly are we now?”

Breathing in the air and listening to the sounds, Riley already realized that they were in the woods.

“What do you see?” she asked. Virgil looked around, trying to understand the surroundings.

“There are many thick objects around us with something green on the top. All of them look the same,” he tried to describe things as much as he could. Riley smiled at that. Again and again Virgil reminded her of a child that didn’t know so much.

“The objects you see around are trees,” she explained. “And the place with a huge amount of trees is called woods or forest. So that’s where we are – in the woods.”

“I have to say I like the woods,” the monster spoke, studying everything with his glance.

“Me too. Although I see nothing but I can hear and feel the special atmosphere that the woods have,” Riley added. “I have always liked walking in the woods. It’s like you feel yourself one with the nature, and it’s just lovely.”

“I feel now the same as you,” Virgil admitted. He really liked being in the woods and perfectly understood why Riley enjoyed it as well. “There are so many ways to go. Which is ours?”

Riley sighed. She didn’t know herself where they should go now.

“Well… to tell you the truth… I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess we just go where we go. We are now free and can go wherever we want. I’m sure that we’ll get somewhere eventually.”

This time Virgil said nothing and just took Riley’s hand, holding it firmly but gently. Actually, it didn’t matter so much where they chose to go. The only thing mattered that they were finally free. With that they began their journey in a new world. Virgil knew that there were so many new and interesting things in this world that he wanted to know about, but all will come in time. Now he was free and with his dearest and only friend nearby, just like he wanted it to be.

For the first time during his existence Virgil finally understood what the feeling of happiness was like.

Riley was no less happy than Virgil. All that she ever wanted while being kept in the SCP facility was her torment to end. Who could have known that fate would have mercy on her and give her the most precious gift she could ever wish for? She was given a faithful friend, and it didn’t matter that this friend was an inhuman creature, a monster that could kill people easily if he wanted to. He was kind to her, and it was all that mattered. He would protect her whenever it’s necessary. He was her only friend, and she knew she would never accept anything in exchange. Virgil was her most precious gift.

Now they were finally free and happy together.

And from this day they started a new life.


End file.
